March was the hottest on record worldwide since 1880
Last month was the hottest March worldwide since record keeping began in 1880, and the first three months of 2015 also set a new heat record, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
"During March, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.53 Fahrenheit (0.85 Celsius) above the 20th century average," NOAA writes in the report. "This was the highest for March in the 1880-2015 record, surpassing the previous record of 2010 by 0.09 F (0.05 C)."
This map gives you a good idea of just how much hotter March was this year. The red areas are places that had warmer weather than usual, while the blue areas are places that had cooler weather than usual:
And the whole first quarter of this year set the record for warmest global land and ocean temperatures. The record heat is particularly noticeable in the western US and eastern Siberia:
And it's not just March. Seven of the past eleven months (May, June, August, September, October, and December 2014, along with March 2015) tied or set new record highs.
The record-breaking heat wasn't the only weird weather for March. NOAA also mapped out other weather anomalies around the world that happened during March:
NOAA releases a global weather analysis every month.