The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: U.S. March 2024 Record Scoreboard and Climatological Review
Dear Diary. This post is a couple of weeks late due to my bout and hospitalization with sepsis. I’ll write a little essay about that and life in general on my diary for tomorrow, but it’s time to catch up on some bookkeeping today.
It’s time once again for our monthly climatological review. Here on this site, we usually present monthly summaries near the 8th of each month, and each is available by clicking the link below:
https://guyonclimate.com/category/record-scoreboard-climatological-reviews
I’m repeating this mantra every month:
March 2024 using 1901-2000 mean data got ranked by the National Center for Environmental Information for the lower 48 states as 17th warmest, or 114th coolest since records began being kept in 1895 at +3.64°F(+2.02°C) above average.
The above data was from:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/national/rankings
March 2024 was relatively mild to warm from start to finish across the entire country with the exception of the Southwest and northern Rockies. Most record warmth was reported from the Midwest and Northeast.
You can check out record totals for yourself on my NCEI record archives:
NCEI Record Count Archive – Guy On Climate
Here are my two U.S. Daily Record Scoreboards updated through 4/22/2024 (data compiled from the following NCEI site):
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records
I’m also keeping tabs on record report totals to verify a scientific study I helped to complete in the decade of the 2000s. We’ll eventually see how skewed ratios of record warm to cold reports get by the year 2100, which the study mentions as 50-1 for DHMX vs. DLMN:
Brand new for 2024: I’ve started to add NCEI anomalies (F° departure from 1901-2000 data) on my record scoreboards. I’d like these record scoreboards to be a quick and dirty reference tool and a template for future NCEI record site graphics.
DHMX= Daily High Max Reports. DLMN= Daily Low Min Reports. DHMN= Daily High Min Reports. DLMX=Daily Low Max Reports.
Bold red, blue, or purple colored months, such as December 2023 and June 2021, that have ratios of >10 to 1 daily warm low records or <1 to 10 daily warm to low records are either historically hot or cold, most of which have made news. NCEI rankings are for the lower 48 states with the warmest ranking since 1895 of average temperatures being 129 and 1 being the coldest as of 2023. Blue colors represent cold months and red warm. Those months and years with counts close to a 1 to 1 ratio of highs to lows are colored black. All-time record hottest or coldest months and years are boldly colored in purple. NCDC rankings have been color coded (under tabs in each file) such that values of 54 to 74 are black representing neutral months or years (+ or – 10 from the average ranking of 64).
Totals are record reports for the entire United States including all territories minus those from Alaska. I’ve subtracted those from Alaska to get a better representation of what has occurred across the lower 48 states in association with lower 48 state rankings.
March 2024 had approximately a 10 to 1 ratio of record DHMX to DLMN individual record counts, so the color I used for this month was dark red on the top chart.
March 2024 had approximately a 17 to 5 ratio of record DHMN to DLMX individual record counts, so the color I used for this month was red on the bottom chart.
Due to climate change, we are seeing fewer blue colors on these Record Scoreboards with time.
As stated, the average temperature lower 48 state ranking for March 2024 was 114, which was colored red since it was warmer than average.
I color rankings of +10 to -10 from the average ranking for the lower 48 states of 65 black, indicating that these are near average temperature wise. The top warmest ranking for 2024 would be 130 since rankings began in 1895.
We are seeing that April 2024 has been anomalously warm for most of the country. Meteorological models forecast this trend through the end of the month. I do expect to see another above average month in April 2024, but one that is not historically warm.
Interestingly, overall ratios for 2024 are now in line with historic yearly ratios for the 2020s as shown here…something to keep in mind for seasonal forecasts:
Here is much more detailed climatology for March 2024 as complied by NOAA:
Assessing the U.S. Climate in March 2024
Severe storms brought large hail and tornadoes to portions of the Midwest; blizzard buried parts of California under feet of snow
PUBLISHED
APRIL 8, 2024
Related Links
March 2024 U.S. Climate Report (Available April 11, 2024)
National Temperature and Precipitation Maps
Climatological Rankings Explained
State of the Climate Summaries
Key Points:
- March 12–15 saw the most intense severe weather outbreak of the year through March 31 after powerful storms brought baseball-sized hail and more than 20 tornadoes to portions of the Midwest, resulting in significant damage and loss of life.
- A blizzard blasted parts of California’s Sierra Nevada with gusts of up to 190 mph and more than 10 feet of snow at the beginning of March.
- March 2024 was the 17th-warmest March on record for the nation and precipitation ranked in the wettest third of the historical record for the month.
Other Highlights:
Temperature
The average temperature of the contiguous U.S. in March was 45.1°F, 3.6°F above average, ranking 17th warmest in the 130-year record. March temperatures were above average across much of the contiguous U.S., while below-average temperatures were observed in small pockets of the West and Southwest.
The Alaska statewide March temperature was 14.1°F, 3.3°F above the long-term average, ranking in the warmest third of the 100-year period of record for the state. Above-average temperatures were observed across much of the state with near-normal temperatures in parts of the North Slope, Interior, Southwest and parts of the Aleutians and Panhandle.
For January–March, the average contiguous U.S. temperature was 39.4°F, 4.2°F above average, ranking fifth warmest on record for this period. Temperatures were above average across most of the contiguous U.S., while record-warm temperatures were observed in parts of the Northeast. Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine each ranked second warmest for the January–March period.
The Alaska January–March temperature was 9.4°F, 3.5°F above the long-term average, ranking in the warmest third of the historical record for the state. Much of the state was above normal for the three-month period while temperatures were near average across the eastern portions of the state and in parts of the Aleutians and Panhandle.
Precipitation
March precipitation for the contiguous U.S. was 2.85 inches, 0.34 inch above average, ranking in the wettest third of the historical record. Precipitation was above average across much of the West, in the Great Lakes and along the Gulf and East coasts and in parts of the northern Plains. Conversely, precipitation was below normal across much of the Ohio Valley, the Plains, and in parts of the Northwest and Florida. Maine and Rhode Island each had their second-wettest March on record.
Alaska’s average monthly precipitation ranked in the middle third of the historical record. Precipitation was above average in parts of the North Slope, West Coast and Southeast, while below-normal precipitation was observed in parts of the central Interior, south-central Alaska and in parts of the Panhandle during the month.
The January–March precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 8.15 inches, 1.19 inches above average, ranking 10th wettest in the 130-year record. Precipitation was above average across much of the contiguous U.S., with Rhode Island having its second-wettest year-to-date period on record. Conversely, precipitation was below average across much of the northern Plains and in small parts of the Northwest, central and southern Plains, Ohio Valley and Southeast during the January–March period.
The January–March precipitation for Alaska ranked in the wettest third of the 100-year record, with above-average precipitation observed in parts of the North Slope, West Coast and Southeast, while below-normal precipitation was observed in parts of the central Interior and south-central Alaska, as well as southern portions of the Panhandle during this period.
Billion-Dollar Disasters
One new billion-dollar weather and climate disaster was confirmed in March 2024 after a severe weather event impacted the central and southern U.S. during mid-March, with the most severe weather occurring on March 13–15.
The U.S. has sustained 378 separate weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2024). The total cost of these 378 events exceeds $2.675 trillion.
Other Notable Events
Five wildfires, including the Smokehouse Creek wildfire, were finally contained in the Texas Panhandle, the largest cattle-producing region in the world. The wildfires resulted in approximately 1.1 million acres scorched, hundreds of destroyed structures, hundreds of miles of ruined fencing and more than 7,000 dead cattle.
Winter did not bring heavy snowfall to Wisconsin nor the temperatures necessary to maintain the snow, allowing fires to begin early and in high numbers. Between January–March 2024, there have been more than 220 fires across Wisconsin.
A 5.25-inch diameter hail stone fell in Ada, Oklahoma on March 14, which is the largest stone reported in Pontotoc County since 1950, as well as the largest to fall in the state in nearly 13 years.
A state of emergency was declared for Ohio as several tornadoes struck the state, resulting in 3 fatalities on March 14 when an EF-3 tornado crossed Auglaize and Logan Counties.
Drought
According to the April 2 U.S. Drought Monitor report, about 18% of the contiguous U.S. was in drought, down about 3.6% from the end of February. Drought conditions expanded or intensified in portions of the Plains and in parts of the Northwest, central Mississippi Valley, northern Great Lakes and Hawaii this month. Drought contracted or was reduced in intensity across much of the Mississippi Valley, Puerto Rico and the West, and in parts of the Plains, Great Lakes and Carolinas.
Monthly Outlook
Above-average temperatures are favored to impact much of the central U.S., Northwest and Northeast in April while above-average precipitation is likely from much of the Plains to parts of the East Coast and in much of the Southwest. Drought is likely to persist along portions of the Northern Tier, the Southwest, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Visit the Climate Prediction Center’s Official 30-Day Forecasts and U.S. Monthly Drought Outlook website for more details.
Significant wildland fire potential for April is above normal across much of the Upper Midwest and in parts of the central and southern Plains. For additional information on wildland fire potential, visit the National Interagency Fire Center’s One-Month Wildland Fire Outlook.
This monthly summary from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information is part of the suite of climate services NOAA provides to government, business, academia and the public to support informed decision-making. For more detailed climate information, check out our comprehensive March 2024 U.S. Climate Report scheduled for release on April 11, 2024. For additional information on the statistics provided here, visit the Climate at a Glance and National Maps webpages.
Here are more “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is more March 2024 climatology:
Here is More Climate News from Tuesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
I’m awfully glad to see you’re back!
Thanks so much John!