Hot! Hot! Hot!

The lower-48 U.S. states experienced the warmest year on record in 2012,
eclipsing the previous record by one degree, government scientists said Tuesday.

The government's temperature record for the lower 48, which exclude Hawaii
and Alaska, goes back to 1895. In all the previous years on record, average
temperatures varied by a total of about four degrees, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration said, making the jump in 2012 particularly stark.