The US just experienced its hottest March on record

More than 12,000 daily high temperature records were broken in March, with the national temperature exceeding the record for the month.

The United States experienced its hottest average temperature on record for March, with 10 states experiencing their hottest March in 131 years, according to new data released by NOAA.

"The continental U.S. average temperature in March was 50.85°F, 9.35°F above the 20th-century average, marking the first time any month’s average has exceeded 9°F above that baseline," NOAA said.

March included several heat waves across the nation. A total of 1,432 counties — covering 52.8 percent of the nation and 38 percent of the population of the U.S. — had never been warmer in March, NOAA said.

More than 12,000 daily record highs were set

During the peak of the heat wave on March 18 and 22, NOAA says that 4,447 daily record high temperatures were set, and 2,010 of those records set their highest March temperatures on record. For the entire month, 12,347 daily and 2,596 monthly records were set. Some stations set daily record highs on more than 10 days.

In 544 of those monthly records, weather station records go back more than 100 years, including Lawrence, Kansas (157 years); Winnemucca, Nevada (149 years); and Fort McKavett, Texas (148 years).

From a smaller subset of 247 U.S. towns in the Climate Central database, the number of record highs this March (794) is the largest number set for any month since 1950.

The extensive heat in March shut down hiking trails in the Southwest, ended the Death Valley superbloom and closed ski resorts in California as the snowpack melted to zero at one station.

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