March 2023 Shatters Heat Records! Are We Unprepared for the Climate Crisis? You Won't Believe the Shocking Stats!

WASHINGTON (AP) — March 2023 has etched itself into the record books as the hottest March in the continental United States in 132 years, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In fact, it was not just a record for March; the month registered the most significant temperature departure from the historical average for any month on record in the Lower 48 states.

The average temperature for March was an astonishing 50.85 degrees Fahrenheit (10.47 degrees Celsius), which is 9.35 degrees Fahrenheit (5.19 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century norm for that month. This record surpassed the previous high of 8.9 degrees Fahrenheit (4.9 degrees Celsius) set in March 2012, making it the most abnormally hot month, regardless of the time of year. Additionally, NOAA reported that the average maximum temperature for March was 11.4 degrees Fahrenheit (6.3 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average, nearly a degree warmer than the average daytime high for April.

Alarmingly, six of the ten most abnormally hot months recorded in the United States have occurred in the last decade. February 2023, which was 6.57 degrees Fahrenheit (3.65 degrees Celsius) above the historical norm, was also noteworthy, landing as the tenth highest on the list of monthly temperature anomalies.

“What we experienced in March across the United States was unprecedented,” stated Shel Winkley, a meteorologist with Climate Central, a nonprofit climate science research group. He emphasized the worrying trend of breaking numerous all-time temperature records during a period already marked by an unusually warm winter and a dismal snow year. In fact, April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest 12-month span ever recorded in the continental U.S.

The implications of this heat are concerning. On March 20 and 21, about one-third of the country experienced significant unseasonable warmth, attributed to human-caused climate change, according to Climate Central's calculations. Over 19,800 daily temperature records were shattered nationwide, with more than 2,000 locations setting monthly records. In March alone, more heat records were established than entire decades previously.

“All those broken records tell us that climate change is kicking our butts,” asserted meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections. He noted that the January through March period was also the driest on record for the contiguous U.S., compounding the dangers posed by the extreme heat. This combination of high temperatures and low precipitation raises serious concerns regarding water availability, agricultural viability, and river levels.

Coming El Niño and its Potential Impact

Looking ahead, meteorologists are predicting a "super" strong El Niño to form in the coming months, with expectations that it will intensify into the winter. Both the European climate and weather service Copernicus and NOAA foresee this phenomenon contributing to already warm global temperatures, likely pushing them past the record highs set in 2024.

An El Niño is a periodic warming of parts of the central Pacific Ocean that can significantly impact weather patterns worldwide. It starts when a specific part of the ocean warms by at least 0.5 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal, becoming classified as moderate at 1 degree Celsius and strong at 1.5 degrees Celsius. Current forecasts suggest this upcoming El Niño could exceed 2 degrees Celsius, potentially rivaling records established during the strong El Niño events of 2015 and 2016.

According to Northern Illinois University meteorology professor Victor Gensini, a strong El Niño could lead to new record levels of global temperatures in late 2026 and into 2027, as the heat stored in the ocean is released into the atmosphere.

Moreover, studies, including one published in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that super-sized El Niños can trigger significant shifts in climate patterns that last for years or even decades. For instance, the El Niño of 2015-2016 was linked to sustained higher temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico, which may have contributed to an uptick in hurricane strength along the Gulf Coast.

While research indicates that the warming caused by fossil fuel consumption is likely making El Niños more potent, experts caution that this is still an evolving area of study. “Global warming is supercharging El Niños and the atmospheric warming they drive,” explained Jonathan Overpeck, the dean of the environment at the University of Michigan. “We saw this in 2016 and more recently in 2023, and we’re likely to see another jump in global temperatures if a strong El Niño develops later this year as is being predicted.”

Typically, El Niños suppress hurricane activity in the Atlantic but increase it in the Pacific, while also potentially alleviating drought conditions in the southwestern U.S. However, the ramifications of such climatic changes underscore the urgent need to address the root causes of climate change.