From Colorado to Florida, 41 states are pulling out the record books, as the National Weather Service confirms they have had their hottest march on record.
Trend-setting Chicago was among record-breaking cities. It reported an average temperature of 53.5 degrees, topped the previous mark of 48.6 degrees, set in 1910.
Chris Dolce, a weather.com meteorologist, described the 4.9 degree leap as said: ‘pretty amazing’, especially given that records date back to 1871.
Chicago’s skyline was bathed in sunshine during March as the city celebrated record breaking temperatures
Other states to beat their personal bests included Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, St. Louis and Washington D.C. Across the states 7,577 all-time daily high temperatures were set or matched.
A few cities in states as far west as Colorado and Wyoming saw new records set but the vast majority were in the central U.S. and the South.
And unusual high temperatures were recorded even in states where the record wasn’t broken.
New York fell short of beating its 51.1 degree record, set in 1945, but still basked in unseasonable warmth with the average temperature of 50.9 degrees 8.9 degrees above normal.
Tom Kines, a meteorologist for AccuWeather, described the temperature hike as ‘mind-boggling’. He added: ‘To put it in perspective, if it was April, it would still be in the top 10, as far as warmest.’
