The drought had a negative impact on corn in Le Roy, Illinois. Drought occurred in six Plains states between last May and August because moist Gulf of Mexico air "failed to stream northward in late spring," and summer storms were few and stingy with rainfall, said a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
(CNN) -- The past year saw a mild winter give way to a balmier-than-normal spring, followed by a sweltering summer and high temperatures that lingered into the fall, all punctuated by extreme drought and intense storms.
Now 2012 is officially in the books as the hottest year on record for the continental United States and the second-worst for "extreme" weather such as hurricanes, droughts or floods, the U.S. government announced Tuesday.
The year's average temperature of 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit across the Lower 48 was more than 3.2 degrees warmer than the average for the 20th century, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration reported. That topped the previous record, set in 1998, by a full degree.
Every state in the contiguous United States saw above-average temperatures in 2012, with 19 of them setting annual records of their own, NOAA said. Meanwhile, the country faced 11 weather disasters that topped $1 billion in losses each, including a lingering drought that covered 61% of the country at one point.
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That drought shriveled crops across the American farm belt, leading to an expected rise in food prices in 2013, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department. It also turned forests of the mountain West into stands of tinder that exploded into catastrophic wildfires over the summer, scorching millions of acres and destroying hundreds of homes.
Climate change, extreme weather linked
And then there was Superstorm Sandy, a late October post-tropical cyclone that killed more than 110 people in the United States and nearly 70 more in the Caribbean and Canada. Damage estimates from the storm run around $80 billion in New York and New Jersey alone.
The report is likely to fuel new concerns over a warming climate. Seven of the 10 hottest years in U.S. records, which date back to 1895, and four of the hottest five have now occurred since 1990, according to NOAA figures.
The year also saw Arctic sea ice hit a record low in more than 30 years of satellite observations and studies that found the world's major ice sheets have been shrinking at an increasing rate.
Scientists are quick to point out that no single storm can be blamed on climate change, but say a warming world raises the odds of extreme weather.
"I think unfortunately, 2012 really may well be the new normal," said Daniel Lashof, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S. environmental group. "It's the kind of year we expect, given the global warming trend is ongoing."
The science of global warming is politically controversial but generally accepted as fact by most researchers, who point to heat-trapping carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels as the major cause.
Lashof's group is trying to press the Obama administration to tighten limits on carbon emissions, but he said those steps "are not going to reduce the threat of extreme weather overnight."
"We need to take greater preparations, anticipating the kind of storms and droughts that we saw are going to continue to be more frequent as we go forward," he said.
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Though parts of the country such as the Pacific Northwest and the Gulf Coast had wetter-than-average years, average precipitation was nearly 2.6 inches below normal -- the 15th driest since records started being kept in the 1890s, according to NOAA.
The two remaining U.S. states, remote Alaska and Hawaii, saw a mixed picture in 2012.
Alaska was slightly cooler and wetter than normal, while nearly two-thirds of Hawaii's island chain faced moderate to exceptional drought conditions by December, NOAA said.
Science, satellites and superstorms: Preparing for the next big one
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A calf strains for mother's milk as they forage amid dry wheat husks on the Becker farm August 24 in Logan, Kansas.
Farmer Darren Becker sifts through arid topsoil under a ruined crop on the family farm on August 24 in Logan, Kansas.
Rancher Gary Wollert pauses before heading out for work on August 23 near Eads, Colorado. The nation's severe drought has been especially hard on cattlemen. Much of eastern Colorado and virtually all of Nebraska and Kansas are still in extreme or exceptional drought, according to the University of Nebraska's Drought Monitor.
A billboard, "Jesus in the Wheat," stands alongside Interstate 70 on August 24 in Colby, Kansas. The billboard was erected by local residents Tuffy and Linda Taylor. "We just put it up there to minister," Linda Taylor told the Hays Daily News.
A boat dock is left high and dry at the Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, Indiana, on August 16, where water depths are significantly lower than average because of a widespread drought.
Fish remains bake in the heat in an area that is usually underwater at the Morse Reservoir in Indiana.
President Obama inspects a drought-stricken area of Missouri Valley, Iowa, with corn farmer Roger McIntosh on August 13 as he campaigns in the area. Since mid-June, corn prices have risen about 60% because of declining crop yields.
Heat and drought have destroyed corn yields.
A car kicks up dust as it drives by corn fields on dry dirt road in State Center, Iowa.
Jeremy Tilton adds hay to a feed mixer for cattle he raises on pastureland near Cuba, Illinois.
A tractor cuts down corn in a field designated as zero-yield on a farm in Vigo County, Indiana, on Tuesday, July 31. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared more than half the counties in the country natural disaster areas as drought sears millions of acres of pasture and cropland.
A field of dead corn sits next to the Lincolnland Agri-Energy ethanol plant in Palestine, Illinois, on Wednesday, July 25.
An employee stocks dairy products at a supermarket in New York on Wednesday, July 25. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said prices of dairy products like cheese, milk and eggs are expected to rise 2% to 3% because of the drought.
Corn stalks struggle to survive in a drought-stricken farm field on Thursday, July 19, near Oakton, Indiana. The corn and soybean belt in the middle of the nation is experiencing one of the worst droughts in more than five decades.
A field of corn shows the effects of the drought on a farm near Fritchton, Indiana, on Wednesday, July 17.
Farmer Ed Schoenberg and his son harvest oats early in attempt to salvage their drought damaged crop near Burlington, Wisconsin, on July 17.
Corn is watered with an irrigation system near Fritchton, Indiana, on July 17.
A single stalk of corn grows in a drought-stricken field near Shawneetown, Illinois, on July 16.
Brown and dry, a field of corn sturggles to survive drought conditions near Uniontown, Kentucky, on July 16.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn examines a drought-damaged ear of corn near Waltonville, Illinois, on July 16.
A weed grows thorugh the dried and cracked earth where a pond used to br near Ashley, Illinois, on July 16.
Farmer Marion Kujawa looks over a dried-up pond where his cattle used to water, near Ashley, Illinois, on July 16. Kujawa is digging the pond deeper so that the water will last longer in the future.
Farmer Albert Walsh walks through his drought-damaged corn field in Carmi, Illnois, on July 11.
The drought plaguing the Midwest has taken a harsh toll on America's corn crops, such as this one in Grayville, Illinois.
Swimmers relax in the shallow waters of the Mississippi River at Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park in Tennessee on July 6. Drought conditions have lowered the river's levels considerably from this time last year.
Fish skeletons line the bottom of a drainage ditch in Skelton, Indiana, on July 12.
Soybean seedlings push their way through dry soil in Skelton, Indiana, on July 12.
Cattle graze in a field on July 13 near Paris, Missouri. Many ranchers are rushing to sell off their herds as hay supplies dwindle and feed prices soar.
Cracked, dry ground marks the area where a pond normally stands in Crossville, Illinois, on July 11.
Brown corn stalks stand in a drought-stricken field on July 11 in Carmi, Illinois.
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