(NewsNation) — The lower 48 experienced the warmest winter on record in 130 years, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration.
Some of the coldest states — North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan New York, Vermont and New Hampshire — saw record-setting warmth.
The country as a whole had a temperature that was 5.4°F above average for the season, during the meteorological winter (December-February), NOAA reports, beating the winter of 2015-2016 for the title.
Record-warm temperatures were seen across much of the Mississippi Valley and in parts of the Great Lakes and Southern Plains, but Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri each had their warmest February on record, NOAA found.
In February, Alaska was 10.3°F warmer than average. It was also the hottest February on record globally and the ninth-straight warmest month the planet has seen, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Persistent above average temperatures across the Midwest and Great Lakes led to 2.7% lake ice coverage on Feb. 11, the lowest on record for that time of year, NOAA found.