Nation's November Was Warm And Dry, Many States Heading Toward Record Warmest Year

Once we start getting into mid-month, climate figures for the previous month start trickling in. Friday, we learned the United States had its 19th warmest and 12th driest November out of the past 128 years.

November was a warm month in a warm year in the 
United States. States colored in orange were warmer
than normal, states with no shading were pretty
close to average,

Most of the western and central United States was warmer than average, with six states scoring among the top 20 warmest Novembers in the past century and a quarter or so.  

The eastern United States was a little on the cool side, but not by much. Vermont and Massachusetts tied for the chilliest, at least relative to the long term average. But it wasn't that cold.  Both states had their 47th coldest November out of the past 128 years.

Here's one more way to look at the warmth of November in the United States: Weather stations across the U.S,. reported 1248 daily record highs during the month compare to just 658 record lows. (There are always at least some record lows. Climate change hasn't rid the world of cold snaps just yet).

Despite the slight nippiness of November in the eastern U.S., many states had one of their warmest meteorological autumns on record. Meteorological autumn runs from September 1 through November 30. For the Lower 48, it was the fourth warmest autumn out of the past 128 years. 

Nineteen states, including Vermont, had one of their top 10 warmest autumn on record. (Vermont ranked sixth warmest).

Almost always in any given month, parts of the Lower 48 are dry, other parts are wet.  November, 2023 was an exception. Every state except Florida was dry. And the Florida wetness was due mostly to an extreme storm on November 16 that dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of South Florida. 

The Midwest was especially dry. Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Kentucky each had one of their top 10 driest Novembers on record. 

Going back to temperature info, there's only one month of data left for 2023 and the United States is headed toward a very warm year. 

Thirty-one states have had the warmest January-November period this year. With December looking like it will turn out to be near average or warmer than average, most, perhaps all of those states will have one of their top ten warmest years on record. Vermont is among those states. 

With El Nino continuing to blare on and climate change unabated, 2023 looks like it will be globally the world's hottest year on record. And 2024 looks even hotter. I'll have updated global November data within a few days