Salinas, California
The winter of 2014-15 has been so exceptionally and persistently warm across the western third of the United States that more than 20 cities have tied or broken all-time records for the warmest meteorological winter (Dec. 1 through Feb. 28/29) on record.
A number of cities clinched the record several days ago as they outpaced the previous record-warm winter by such a large margin that they would have had to see subzero temperatures not to end the winter with the new winter warmth record.
The warmth has not been all good news in the West – snowpack has been well below average in the Cascades and is now at record-low levels for late February in the Sierra Nevada.
The slideshow above shows 20 of the cities that either tied or broke records for the warmest winter on record. We only included cities with at least 60 years of weather records, and not every city that set a record is included.
In case you're wondering, few if any cities in the East will have their coldest winters on record despite a series of high-profile blizzards and record cold waves – mainly because December was relatively mild.
Warmest Places This Winter
While the slideshow above compares cities' winter temperatures to their own historical records, here's a list of the 20 warmest cities in the Lower 48 compared against each other based on the average of all the daily high and low temperatures observed during the winter of 2014-15 as of Feb. 26, regardless of whether this winter was warmer or cooler than normal for their local climates:
1. Key West, Florida2. Miami, Florida3. West Palm Beach, Florida4. Fort Myers, Florida5. Vero Beach, Florida6. Punta Gorda, Florida7. Venice, Florida8. St. Petersburg, Florida9. (tie) Tampa, Florida9. (tie) Orlando, Florida11. Lakeland, Florida12. Plant City, Florida13. Los Angeles, California14. San Diego, California15. (tie) Brownsville, Texas15. (tie) Long Beach, California17. Phoenix, Arizona18. (tie) McAllen, Texas18. (tie) Daytona Beach, Florida20. Needles, California
The above rankings are based on NOAA temperature data for about 415 cities compiled by the Southeast Regional Climate Center.
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