U.S. had near-record heat, costly weather disasters in 2016

WASHINGTON -- With steamy nights, sticky days and torrential downpours, last year went down as one of the warmest and wildest weather years on record in the United States.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday that 2016 was the second-hottest year in the U.S. as Alaska warmed dramatically and nighttime temperatures set a record.

The U.S. notched its second-highest number of weather disasters that cost at least $1 billion in damage: 15 caused a total of $46 billion in damage and 138 deaths.

Later this month, global temperatures will be calculated, giving climate scientists more information as they monitor the planet's warming.

The regular tally of the nation's weather year shows even on a smaller scale -- the U.S. is only 2 percent of the Earth's area -- climate change is becoming more noticeable even amid natural variations that play such a large role in day to day weather.

The average temperature last year in the Lower 48 states was 54.9 degrees, nearly 3 degrees above the 20th-century average of 52. It's the 20th consecutive year the United States was warmer than normal.

Only 2012's 55.3 degrees was warmer in the 122 years of U.S. record keeping.

"It is certainly a data point on a trend that we've seen: a general warming," said Deke Arndt, climate monitoring chief at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information in Asheville, North Carolina. "All five of the warmest years on record have been since 1998 in the U.S."

While 2016 didn't break the overall heat record, Alaska had its hottest year by far, beating 2014's old record by 1.6 degrees.

Also, the nation's nighttime low temperature was the hottest on record, a key issue because it hurts agriculture, costs more in air conditioning and makes it harder for people's bodies to recover from the summer heat, Arndt said.

NOAA also found it was the fourth consecutive wetter than normal year in the nation, even as droughts remained nasty in some places.

"We are seeing bigger doses of rain in smaller amounts of time," Arndt said.

That led to four inland floods that cost $1 billion or more, including heavy sudden flooding in Houston, West Virginia and twice in Louisiana.

That's the most NOAA has seen, twice as many as the previous high for inland flooding.