The List: The Fastest- and Slowest-Warming US States

"Earthrise" seen by the Apollo 8 astronauts in December 1968. CREDIT: NASA View full size image

A new report by the outreach and research organization Climate Central reveals which U.S. states are warming the fastest, with Rhode Island taking the top spot over the past 100 years.

For each state in the continental U.S., scientists from Climate Central calculated averages of the daily high and low temperatures from National Climatic Data Center’s U.S. Historical Climatology Network of weather stations. Then, they determined how much the average daily temperatures changed each decade over the past 100 years.

[Full story on U.S. state warming trends]

Here are the temperature increases per decade for continental U.S. states from 1912 to today:

1. Rhode Island: 0.339 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Massachusetts: 0.300 F
3. New Jersey: 0.280 F
4. Arizona: 0.273 F
5. Maine: 0.272 F
6. Connecticut: 0.250 F
7. Michigan: 0.245 F
8. Utah: 0.233 F
9. Minnesota: 0.229 F
10. Colorado: 0.225 F
11. New Hampshire: 0.215 F
12. Delaware: 0.210 F
13. North Dakota: 0.208 F
14. Wyoming: 0.197 F
15. Nevada: 0.196 F
16. Wisconsin: 0.189 F
17. Montana: 0.188 F
18. New York: 0.181 F
19. New Mexico: 0.177 F
20. Maryland: 0.176 F
21. Vermont: 0.172 F
22. Idaho: 0.166 F
23. California: 0.161 F
24. South Dakota: 0.143 F
25. Pennsylvania: 0.142 F
26. Washington: 0.129 F
27. Oregon: 0.128 F
28. Texas: 0.114 F
29. Virginia: 0.107 F
30. Kansas: 0.103 F
31. Florida: 0.081 F
32. Ohio: 0.077 F
33. Illinois: 0.076 F
34. Nebraska: 0.072 F
35. Oklahoma: 0.072 F
36. Indiana: 0.059 F
37. North Carolina: 0.054 F
38. Iowa: 0.046 F
39. West Virginia: 0.035 F
40. Missouri: 0.029 F
41. South Carolina: 0.024 F
42. Tennessee: 0.021 F
43. Louisiana: 0.021 F
44. Mississippi: 0.014 F
45. Kentucky: 0.008 F
46. Arkansas: minus 0.004 F
47. Georgia: minus 0.035 F
48. Alabama: minus 0.071 F

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