Despite La Nina, US sets 4 Major Heat Records in First Half of
2012 Warmest U.S. Spring On Record: NOAA Planetark.org, June 8,
2012 So far, 2012 has been the warmest year the United States
has ever seen, with the warmest spring and the second-warmest
May since record-keeping began in 1895, the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Thursday.
Temperatures for the past 12 months and the year-to-date have
been the warmest on record for the contiguous United States,
NOAA said. The average temperature for the contiguous 48 states
for meteorological spring, which runs from March through May,
was 57.1 degrees F (13.9 C), 5.2 degrees (2.9 C) above the 20th
century long-term average and 2 degrees F (1.1 C) warmer than
the previous warmest spring in 1910. Record warmth and near-
record warmth blanketed the eastern two-thirds of the country
from this spring, with 31 states reporting record warmth for the
season and 11 more with spring temperatures among their 10
warmest. "The Midwest and the upp