March shatters heat records as a supercharged El Niño looms

March was the hottest month on record for the continental U.S. in 132 years, with February also extremely warm and more than 19,800 daily heat records logged; the 12-month period from April 2025 to March 2026 was the warmest on record. Scientists link the anomalies to human-caused climate change and expect a super-strong El Niño to form later this year, likely pushing global temperatures to new highs into 2026–2027 and reshaping weather patterns—potentially reducing Atlantic hurricanes but boosting Pacific activity and easing drought in the Southwest.