2023 was significantly hotter than any year going back to at least the late 1800s. The coming decades will be even hotter if humans don't rapidly move away from burning fossil fuels, scientists warn.
Most of the country is predicted to be warmer than normal with that warmth stretching north from Tennessee, Missouri, Nebraska and Nevada, along with nearly all of California, say federal forecasters.
The natural climate pattern known as El Niño has officially begun. It exacerbates human-caused climate change, driving even hotter temperatures and other dangerous weather.
The cooling in the Pacific Ocean has gone on for three years. Its end is usually good news for the U.S. and other parts of the world, including drought-stricken northeast Africa, scientists said.
The latest estimate from various forecast centers around the world say the planet is approaching a warming threshold international agreements are trying to prevent.