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A woman sits against a tree in the warm weather as cherry trees blossom near the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C.
For tens of millions of Americans, last month was the warmest March in their lifetimes.
Meteorologists used the terms "staggering," "astonishing" and "incredible" to describe the heat across the eastern two-thirds of the nation that set thousands of temperature records for March in cities and towns from the Dakotas to Maine to Florida.
"It's almost like science fiction," weather historian Christopher Burt of the private forecasting company Weather Underground reported last month.
Several large cities - including Atlanta, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa and Washington - had their warmest March since records started being kept.
It was nearly a record warm March for New York City, Philadelphia and Denver, too. But temperature marks fell just short, and March will be recorded as a second-place finish, the Weather Channel reported.
