USA experiences the warmest winter in its history – 03/08/2024 – Environment

The United States, the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is experiencing the hottest winter ever recorded in the country, according to official data released this Friday (8).

The average winter temperature in the 48 states of the continental United States from December to February was 3.1°C, that is, 3°C above average, “making it the warmest winter on record,” he said. NOAA (American Atmospheric and Oceanic Agency).

Eight states in the upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast experienced the warmest winter on record, while temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were near average.

The “persistent heat” caused a “continuous thinning of the ice sheet” in the Great Lakes, in the north of the USA, reaching the lowest level in history in February, highlighted the NOAA.

In Texas, the Smokehouse Creek fire, considered the largest in the history of this southern state and which spread to western Oklahoma, started in February and destroyed more than 430 thousand hectares.

Other major events included unusual atmospheric patterns that brought heavy rain and snowfall to some parts of the West and caused high winds, flooding, landslides and power outages in some regions of California.

“The city of Los Angeles received more than 300 mm of rain in February, approximately three times more than average, making it the wettest February in decades for the city,” the statement added.

In his State of the Union address on Thursday night (7), President Joe Biden referred to global warming as a “climate crisis.”

“I see a future in which we save the planet from the climate crisis,” he said, mentioning that, during his administration, he signed a law related to climate infrastructure.

Last month ranked as the third warmest February in the United States in 130 years since records began, NOAA said.