Extreme times for U.S. weather in first half of year, feds say

First six months of 2017 were warm, wet, and wild, according to government.

Storm damage in May in New Carlisle, Ohio. Government says this has been a big year for wild weather in the U.S.Read moreMarshall Gorby, Dayton Daily News via AP

Published Jul. 7, 2017, 3:23 p.m. ET

Highlighted by tornado outbreaks, Cindy-related floods, a Southern deep freeze, three $10 billion disasters, and 57 weather-related deaths, the first six months of 2017 ranked among the most-active such periods on record, the government said Friday.

Based on the National Center for Environment Information's index, over 40 percent of the country experienced "extreme" weather in some form, which would include temperature and precipitation extremes.

That would be second only to the 47 percent of 2012.

The Jan. 1-June 30 also was the second warmest such period in the contiguous 48 states in a dataset cover 123 years, the center said.

The average temperature for the 48 states for the first six months came to 50.9 Fahrenheit, 3.4 degrees above long-term averages and 1.2 above the aforementioned 2012.

Pennsylvania had its fourth-warmest first half of the year, and it was No. 3 for New Jersey.

As for June, itself, nationally, it was the 20^th warmest, and middle of the pack for both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The global report will be released later this month.