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WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is warming up most quickly at two of its corners -- the Northeast and the Southwest. That's the indication from an analysis of federal temperature records.
Northeastern states -- led by Maine and Vermont -- have gotten the hottest in the last 30 years in annual temperature, gaining 2.5 degrees on average.
But Southwestern states have heated up the most in the hottest months. The average New Mexico summer is 3.4 degrees warmer now than in 1984. In Texas, the dog days are 2.8 degrees hotter.
The annual average temperature in the contiguous United States has warmed by 1.2 degrees since 1984, with summers getting 1.6 degrees hotter. But that doesn't really convey how hot it's gotten for most Americans. Climate scientists say some areas have become hotter than others because of atmospheric factors and randomness.
As one climatologist in Nevada explains it, you can't assume that what's happening in your backyard reflects what's happening around the world. For example, while people in the East and Midwest were complaining about a cold winter this year, Nevada and neighboring California were having some of their warmest winter months ever.
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