Second Warmest November on Record for the United States of America! (Credit: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction)

Winter is days away and the sunny, mild days of fall are far behind us! NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information has released the State of Climate summary for Autumn 2016. So how did this November stack up against the rest of the Autumn?
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​This November was the second warmest on record, in the 122-year period that the record has been kept. The average temperature across the contiguous United States was 48° F, 6.3°above the 20th-century average. In the lower 48, all of the states experienced a temperature that was above average. Three states: Idaho, North Dakota, and Washington all recorded a record warm month. North Dakota had an average temperature that was 12.8°F above normal. This was 2°F above the record set in 1999. For the western half of the country, 15 states saw their second or third warmest November, as near-record warmth blanketed that side of the country. November temperatures seem to be trending upwards as the years pass by. Since 1970 November temperatures have been warming at a rate of 6.6°F per century.

​To learn more about other regional climate change content from around the world, be sure to click here!

© Meteorologist Shannon Scully