Last year was the hottest on record in the US

New York Times : The average temperature in the US in 2012 reached 55.3 °F, a full degree above the previous high set in 1998. According to a count kept by Guy Walton of the Weather Channel , 34 008 record daily highs were set at weather stations across the US, versus only 6664 record lows. As recently as the 1970s, says Walton, the ratio of record highs to record lows was nearly 1:1. Despite the startling jump in average temperature in the US, it is believed that globally it will only be the eighth or ninth warmest year thanks to a general cooling from the La Niña effect . If 2012 does make the top 10, all 10 of the warmest average years will have occurred in the past 15. The warmth in the US began with a warmer-than-average winter that led to a severe heat wave in March. That heat wave contributed to drought conditions in the summer that affected 61% of the US. And 11 severe weather events, including hurricanes Isaac and Sandy and the band of storms that introduced the term derecho to much of the nation, caused more than $1 billion in damages.