Climate Scientists Confirm 2014 Was California's Warmest Year On Record
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- One year ago, California had its warmest January in the 120 years with reliable weather data. We never looked back.
The National Climate Data Center (NCDC) released end-of-year weather information for the U.S. Thursday, and it confirms that 2014 was California's warmest calendar year on record.
And it wasn't even close.
Records like these are typically broken by a tenth or two-tenths of a degree. This record was shattered by nearly two whole degrees, as 2014 was warmer than any of the previous 119 years by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. That is significant. Arizona and Nevada also just finished their warmest years on record.
Interestingly, 2014 was nowhere close to being the country's warmest year. 2014 ranked only as the 34th warmest out of 120 years, making it one of the "coolest" years the US has had in the past two decades. Nearly every state east of the Rocky Mountains had a cooler-than-average year in 2014.
What does this mean for 2015? The short answer is "not much", but long-range outlooks keep California warmer-than-average through March, albeit not on another record pace like last year.