California Experiencing The Hottest Year On Record
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - New data released this week by the National Climatic Data Center shows that California is still on pace to have its hottest year on record.
The number "120" you see on California in the map above indicates that out of the 120 years of national weather records, January - October 2014 has been the hottest.
"California was record warm for January-October, with a temperature 4.2°F above its 20th century average. It is virtually certain that 2014 will be California's warmest year on record," states the report from the NCDC, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
At the same time "More than half of California remains in Exceptional Drought, the most severe category."
Also of note is how warm it has been in the rest of the west (Nevada & Oregon are also near an all-time record), but the upper Midwest (Michigan, Illinois) is having one of the coldest years on record.
The "5" on Arkansas shows that it's the 5th coldest year in that state's history.