We all know it's been a warm, dry year. And if that surprise beach day a week ago, in November, weren't yet another clue, new data from the National Climatic Data Center shows that 2014 remains on track to be the warmest year in 120 years in California. Looking at temperatures from January to October, the state's average temperature clocks in at over 4 degrees above the average since weather records have been kept, as CBS 5 reports.
At the same time Nevada and Arizona have had their second hottest years in 120 years.
The report also shows that in the year to date, San Francisco is having the warmest year in 67 years, with the average temperature of 62.8 degrees being over 3 degrees above the last record.
And, of course, California remains in a state of "exceptional drought," the worst there is.
Also in 2014 most of the East Coast experienced warmer than average temperatures overall, but a swath of the Midwest suffered some of the coldest on record this year too.
Current predictions for an El Niño winter say it will be a weak one, if it materializes at all. Forecasters are giving it a 58 percent chance of forming, and if it does it may affect our rainfall totals, but not enough to alleviate the drought in one season.
On the good news side, this means there is still a chance for another unseasonably balmy January.