The United States just experienced the second warmest year on record, government scientists said Thursday.
In 2015, the average temperature was 54.4 degrees, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That’s 2.4 degrees higher than the average U.S. temperature during the 20th century.
The only year that was warmer than 2015 was 2012, when the average temperature was 55.3 degrees, according to NOAA.
The agency reported that 2015 was the 19th straight year in which the average temperature was higher than the 20th century average.
According to the government’s analysis, the first part of 2015 showed extreme warmth in the west and cold in the east, but the end of the year showed record warmth in the eastern part of the country and near-average temperatures in the western part of the country. Every state had an above-average annual temperature, NOAA reported.
The average amount of precipitation in the 48 contiguous states was 34.47 inches, more than four-and-a-half inches above average. That was good enough to make 2015 the third wettest year in history, trailing only 1973 and 1983.
That amount of wetness meant the drought footprint in the country shrank 10 percent in 2015. The central and southeastern parts of the country were wetter than average, and the west and northeastern parts of the United States were drier than average.
December 2015 was the warmest December on record in the U.S., with an average temperature of 38.6 degrees. That’s 6 degrees above the average December temperature, according to NOAA.
The temperature records of the United States stretches back 121 years to 1891.
The news comes almost a month after a climate agreement was reached in Paris, which saw 196 countries agree to limit their carbon emissions and work together to limit the effects of climate change. The deal has been hit for not containing any teeth because the limits on emissions and financial contributions are not legally binding.
