Temperature Ranks for U.S. States, March 2012. NCDC / NESDIS / NOAA

A persistent weather pattern led to 25 states east of the Rockies having their warmest March on record. An additional 15 states had monthly temperatures ranking among their ten warmest. That same pattern brought cooler-than-average conditions to the West Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California.

U.S. records warmest March; more than 15,000 warm temperature records broken