U.S. experienced warmest year-to-date period in 130-year record
November 15, 2024: Shriveled leaves and bushes cover the ground at Brooklyn's Prospect Park as New York City and much of the Northeast saw a warm and dry November 2024, wrapping up the warmest fall in the U.S. on record. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Last month wrapped up a record-warm meteorological fall across the U.S. This year-to-date period is also running as the nation’s warmest on record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
Below are highlights from NOAA’s U.S. climate report for November 2024:
Climate by the numbers
November 2024
The average November temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 45.3 degrees F (3.6 degrees above average), ranking as the nation’s sixth-warmest November on record.
Alabama, Louisiana, Maine and Mississippi each saw their record-warmest November, with an additional 25 states experiencing a top-10 warmest November on record.
The nation’s average precipitation across the contiguous U.S. was 2.98 inches (0.75 of an inch above average), ranking as the 17th-wettest November on record.
Oklahoma had its wettest November on record and Kansas had its second-wettest, which helped improve the drought conditions across large portions of the central U.S.
Meteorological fall
It was a record meteorological fall (September through November 2024) across the contiguous U.S. The average fall temperature was 57.6 degrees F (4.1 degrees above average), ranking as the warmest fall in NOAA’s 130-year climate record.
Maine, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas and Wisconsin had their warmest falls on record, with an additional 18 states ranking among the top-three warmest falls.
The U.S. fall precipitation total was 6.23 inches, 0.65 inch below average, ranking in the driest third of the September — November record. Connecticut, Delaware, Maine and New Jersey each saw their driest falls on record.
Year to date (YTD, January through November 2024)
With just one month left in 2024, the YTD average temperature was 57.1 degrees F — 3.3 degrees above average — ranking as the nation’s warmest such YTD on record. Twenty-two states had their warmest January–November on record.
The YTD precipitation total for the contiguous U.S. was 29.15 inches (1.57 inches above average), ranking in the wettest third of the historical record.
Other notable highlights from the report
- Above-average hurricane season ends: The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season officially ended on November 30, producing a total of 18 named tropical systems, 11 of which were hurricanes. Hurricanes Beryl, Debby, Francine, Helene and Milton each made landfall in the continental U.S., tying for fourth place with 1893, 2004 and 2005 for the most U.S. landfalls in a season. It will be one of the costliest seasons on record once a full evaluation of the estimated cost of the storms has concluded.
- Drought conditions improved from October: According to the December 3 U.S. Drought Monitor report offsite link, approximately 43.6% of the contiguous U.S. was in drought, down nearly 10.5% from the end of October. Moderate-to-exceptional drought encompassed much of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Great Lakes, Northern Rockies and Plains, parts of the Southwest and Texas, as well as in pockets of the central and southern Plains, Tennessee Valley and central Gulf Coast.
More > Access NOAA’s latest climate report and download the images.
