Last month was the warmest March on record in the contiguous United States, and relatively warm temperatures across the country made January through March 2012 the warmest first quarter since records were first kept in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

The average temperature during the first three months of 2012 was 42 degrees, a full six degrees above the long-term average, NCDC said. It was the warmest first quarter on record for 25 states — all of them east of the Rockies — and 16 others experienced first-quarter temperatures ranking among their ten warmest ever. None of the Lower 48 states had below-average first quarter temperatures.

Alaska, on the other hand, had its ninth coolest first quarter, recording temperatures 5.2 degrees below average.

The average temperature in the contiguous United States was 51.1 degrees in March, 8.6 degrees above the 20th century average for March and 0.5 degree warmer than the previous warmest March in 1910. In the 117 years since the United States began documenting climate records, only January 2006 has seen a larger departure from average temperatures, NCDC said.

Every state experienced at least one record warm daily temperature in March, and a total of 15,272 warm temperature records were set at locations across the country. Washington, Oregon and California experienced cooler-than-average conditions, but 25 other states had their warmest March ever.

“There were 21 instances of the nighttime temperatures being as warm, or warmer, than the existing record daytime temperature for a given date,” NCDC said.

Weather analysts at MDA EarthSat recently said last month was the warmest March since 1950 based on natural gas-weighted heating degree days (GWHDD), averaging 38% less GWHDD than the 30-year normal and 37.5% less than the 10-year normal (see Daily GPI, April 3). It was the warmest March ever in cities across the country, according to AccuWeather.com, with records for high average temperatures set from Portland, ME (41.2 degrees), to Tampa, FL (74.4 degrees), and from Washington, DC (56.8 degrees), to Burlington, CO (49.5 degrees).

NCDC said the nationally-averaged temperature for the contiguous United States from October to March was 3.8 degrees above average, a mark surpassed only by the winter of 1999-2000. “Twenty-one states across the Midwest and Northeast, areas of the country with high annual heating demands, were record warm for the six-month period,” NCDC said. And the 12-month period between April 2011 and March 2012 was the warmest such period for the Lower 48 states, with the second hottest summer and fourth warmest winter on record pushing the 12-month running average temperature to 55.4 degrees, which is 2.6 degrees above the 20th century average.

Mild temperatures have dominated much of the country this winter, including the fourth-warmest January on record for the contiguous United States, according to AccuWeather.com (see Daily GPI, Feb. 13).

Warm winter weather helped lower natural gas prices and flatten sales in 4Q2011, according to NGI’s 4Q2011 Top North American Gas Marketers Ranking (see Daily GPI, March 21).

The front-month natural gas futures contract is currently threatening to break below $2/MMBtu for the first time in more than 10 years. The last time values traded lower than the current level was back during January 2002.

Working gas inventories continue to set new seasonal record highs due to unusually warm winter, with a total of 2,513 Bcf in storage at the end of February, 756 Bcf greater than last year’s level, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook for March (see Daily GPI, March 7). EIA last week reported a storage increase of 42 Bcf, greater than most market analysts had forecast (see Daily GPI, April 9).

Andover, MA-based Weather Services International recently said it expects April temperatures to average warmer than normal in the Northeast, North Central, South Central and Southwest (except coastal Southern California), with cooler-than-normal temperatures dominating in the Southeast and Northwest (see Daily GPI, March 20). But there are still some wintry conditions out there. The Northeast and Great Lakes are likely to see some snow this week, according to AccuWeather.com meteorologist Bill Deger.

“Most snow will have a difficult time accumulating during the day due to the increasingly strong April sun,” Deger said Monday. “Even if a heavier burst coats the ground, the sun will prevent the snow from lasting more than a few hours.”

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