March 2026 was the hottest March on record for the contiguous United States, and the most abnormally warm month of any kind in 132 years of federal weather data. According to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, the average temperature hit 50.85 degrees Fahrenheit — 9.35 degrees above the 20th century normal.
Why it matters
The margin broke every previous record. No month in US history has been as far above its historical average. The data confirms that the 12-month period from April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest year on record for the continental United States.
The numbers
Ten states recorded their warmest March ever: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming. Weather stations across the country broke 1,924 monthly high-temperature records and 10,763 daily records for heat.
More than 500 counties, covering over a quarter of the contiguous US and affecting an estimated 79 million people, recorded their warmest March on record.
Extreme readings
Yuma, Arizona, hit 109 degrees Fahrenheit on a single afternoon, breaking the national March record of 108 degrees set at Rio Grande City, Texas, in 1954. The average maximum daytime temperature for March was 11.4 degrees above the 20th century average — nearly a degree warmer than the typical daytime high for April.
Climate context
A peer-reviewed attribution study by World Weather Attribution found that temperatures as extreme as those recorded in March 2026 would have been “virtually impossible” without human-caused climate change.
A forecast El Nino event could push temperatures even higher through summer 2026, according to NOAA seasonal outlooks.