Get ready for a HOT summer: Most of the US is set to see record-high temperatures
Summer's officially less than month away - and forecasters expect large swathes of the country will be hotter than average this year. The National Weather Service has released its latest seasonal outlook which predicts much of the country will bask in above average temperatures between June and August. The southwestern states of and New have the greatest probability of above normal temperatures, with a roughly 69 percent chance they'll exceed averages. The east coast will also enjoy warmer weather. But the predictions also show it'll be wetter than usual on the east coast and around the Upland South. The forecasts come after the US experienced its in 2022 - a year marked by extreme weather events including several heatwaves and worsening droughts in California. A large section of the country from Texas across to New England has around a 50-60 percent chance of better-than-average temperatures. The Pacific Northwest is expected to be drier than usual and has a 33-50 percent chance it'll exceed temperature averages. The average July temperature in New York City is about 84F but last year saw a high of 102F. In Pheonix, Arizona, the average high is around 105F in July. Last year, temperatures in the month peaked at 111F Average highs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in July are around 93F. Last year's high for the month was 95F. The forecast comes two weeks after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there's a roughly 90 percent chance of an El Nino weather event this summer. El Nino is a warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures (SST), in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Forecasters in the United Kingdom predicted in December that 2023 But new records could be set in 2024 if El Nino forms, as this is likely to drive up average temperatures further. The United Nations warned last week that it is near-certain that 2023-2027 will be the warmest five-year period ever recorded. It said greenhouse gases combined with El Nino would set temperatures soaring. Global temperatures are soon set to exceed the more ambitious target set out in the Paris climate accords, with a two-thirds chance that one of the next five years will do so, the UN's World Meteorological Organization said. The hottest eight years ever recorded were all between 2015 and 2022 - but temperatures are forecast to increase further as climate change accelerates. 'There is a 98-percent likelihood that at least one of the next five years, and the five-year period as a whole, will be the warmest on record,' the WMO said. The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries agree to cap global warming at 'well below' two degrees Celsius above average levels measured between 1850 and 1900 - and 1.5C if possible. The global mean temperature in 2022 was 1.15C above the 1850-1900 average. The WMO said there was a 66 percent chance that annual global surface temperatures will exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels for at least one of the years 2023-2027, with a range of 1.1C to 1.8C forecasted for each of those five years.