According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this past winter was the warmest one ever recorded in the U.S., measured from December 2023 to February 2024. Additionally, this past February was the third-warmest February recorded.
Meteorological winter was the warmest winter on record for the lower 48 U.S. states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), with an average temperature of 37.6 degrees F — 5.4°F above average. This marks the highest average winter temperature, dating back to the 1890's. The second-warmest winter came in 2016, which averaged 36.8°F.
Total winter precipitation was 7.71 inches, 0.92 of an inch above average, ranking in the wettest third of the December–February record. Connecticut and Delaware both had their third-wettest winter season on record.
The year-to-date (January – February 2024) average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 36.5° F — 4.5° F above average —ranking as the ninth warmest such YTD on record. The YTD precipitation was 5.12 inches — 0.67 of an inch above average — ranking in the wettest third of the historical record.
Billion-dollar disasters
During the first two months of 2024, NCEI confirmed one weather disaster in the nation with a loss exceeding $1 billion. From January 8-10, a southern tornado outbreak and East Coast storm impacted more than a dozen states, damaging many homes, businesses, vehicles and other infrastructure.
Additionally series of atmospheric rivers brought heavy rain and snow to the Western U.S. during February, causing significant flooding, powerful winds, landslides and power outages in parts of California. The city of Los Angeles received more than 12 inches of rain during February, approximately three times the February average, resulting in the wettest February in decades for the city.
The Smokehouse Creek wildfire burned more than a million acres in the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma in February 2024. The wildfire, which began on February 26, became the largest wildfire in Texas history.
Since 1980, the U.S. has sustained 377 separate weather and climate disasters where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including Consumer Price Index adjustment to 2024). The total cost of these 377 events exceeds $2.670 trillion.
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