Syracuse, N.Y (NCC News) – If you found yourself sensing colder weather sooner than expected this year, the numbers now back you up. March 2026 has officially been named the most abnormally hot month throughout the United States in the 132 years of tracking.
Across the United States, average temperatures in March were almost 10 degrees higher than normal. While March brings the start of Spring, a time where we expect to see days become warmer, the scale of the heat from March 2026 is alarming. Almost 20,000 daily high temperatures were reported across the country in just 31 days.
Jim Teske, the Chief Meteorologist for WSYR News said these extremes are a clear sign of a warming climate.
“It’s certainly something that you would find in a warming climate, that you would find more extremes like this,” Teske said. He explained “large chunks of the country” experiencing record warmth at the same time is exactly what scientists like him have been predicting for a long time. The movement shows that what we used to consider rare heat could soon become the new normal.
Teske said one of the biggest misconceptions about global warming is that it will make cold weather simply disappear. He warns that a single snowy day doesn’t change the long-term trend making the United States warmer over time.
“Monday, it’ll snow a little bit here in Syracuse. That doesn’t mean that the climate isn’t changing,” Teske said. “You can have a snowy day and still be dealing with a warming climate.”
The data in central New York said Syracuse has not seen a record low since September of 2020. Since then, the city has set 44 record highs. Teske said this is one of the biggest red flags to him that even colder areas like Syracuse are trending towards warmth.
This unusually high March comes soon after the year of 2025, which was the fourth hottest recorded American year in history.
Things could get even warmer this year as a super “El Nino” is expected to sweep through the American southwest beginning at the end of the summer. An El Nino warms waters significantly which could raise the average air temperature near the Pacific by up to three degrees.
While Syracuse can expect to still have a fair share of gray skies and snow flurries, the big picture is hard to ignore. As Teske puts it, “The overall trends are for events like this to happen more often.”