Colorado just had its warmest winter on record, while the Denver metro area had its second-warmest, according to meteorologists and National Weather Service data.

Data show the average temperature between December and February was 33.6 degrees, nearly 2 degrees warmer than the previous record of 32 degrees recorded in 1980-81 and roughly 5 degrees warmer on average than last year, Chris Bianchi, a meteorologist with The Denver Gazette’s news partner 9News, said on X.

Bianchi placed the blame for the warm winter on a warming climate and La Niña weather conditions.

National Weather Service historical data show the average temperature in the Denver metro area for December was 42.3, January was 34.4 and February was 42.1 for an overall average temperature of 39.6 degrees. It’s just below the winter of 1933-34, which had an average temperature of 40.1 degrees.

Zach Hiris, a meteorologist with the NWS Boulder office, said Colorado was not alone in having a warm winter, as many of the western states had higher than usual temperatures, with the warmest weather being in Colorado, Wyoming and Utah.

Hiris said a recurring pattern of high-pressure ridges that occurred early in the winter caused persistent warm and dry weather this season.

Hiris also said snowfall and precipitation was lower than average in Denver, with some areas in northeast Colorado seeing record lows.

Historical weather data goes back roughly 150 years to 1872.