When was the warmest winter on record

Out of the counties and county equivalents such as parishs in the Lower 48 states, not a single one had a temperature significantly below the 20th-century average for the three-month period. The vast majority of counties came in well above average. The first two months of meteorological winter December — January were the warmest on record for the contiguous U.

Across the contiguous U. Even though neither month was record-warm on a national or state level, the mild conditions were prolonged enough to top the national list when the two months are combined. The warmth was also usually widespread.

Temperatures there were as much as a whopping 12 degrees above average, according to the country's weather service. Flowers started to bloom early in the winter, and some bears even awoke from hibernation at the Bolsherechensky Zoo, the Washington Post said. In Europe, France had its warmest winter on record, while both Austria and the Netherlands had their second-warmest winter.

Austria has a long history of keeping weather data: temperature records there go back to , when Mozart was 11 years old. Of course, in the Southern Hemisphere, it was summer, where the extreme warmth of Australia's second-warmest summer on record fueled devastating and deadly wildfires there.

It was the highest temperature recorded there during winter since records began in It was also the equal-fourth warmest winter temperature on record for the whole of New Zealand. The lowest temperature was In November, New Zealand passed landmark climate change legislation , with historic cross-party support, committing the nation to reduce its carbon emissions to zero by and to meeting its commitments under the Paris climate accords.

At the time, the climate change minister, James Shaw, said the bill, which committed New Zealand to keeping global warming below 1. A positive NAO during winter is usually associated with wetter-than-normal conditions across northern Europe and drier-than-average conditions for southern Europe and the Mediterranean region,.

Details are available here. Skip to main content. Europe has warmest winter on record. Tags: Climate change. Published 5 March