Sure, it's been cold the last couple of weeks. But that didn't make up for the rest of the year -- the hottest on record in many places in Southern California.
Until a series of storms slammed the state in December, California's biggest weather story was how parched it was, and the thermometer reflected that. Average temperatures in Long Beach, Burbank, Santa Barbara and other cities in the area were never higher than in 2014, the National Weather Service said.
Cities in Ventura county, San Fernando Valley and Antelope Valley were especially hot last year -- Camarillo's average temperature of 64.5 degrees was one-and-a-half degrees hotter than the previous high in 1976, according to the NWS.
Los Angeles International Airport has had one hotter year than 2014, while downtown Los Angeles only had its fifth hottest year, the NWS said, though its records date back further than other Southern California Locations.
High temperatures and very little precipitation were to blame for the hot year, meteorologists said. In late December, nearly 95 percent of the state was experiencing a severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Other cities across the West experienced record temperatures last year, too.
Las Vegas averaged 72 degrees in 2014, which "smashed" the previous high of 71.2, the NWS said.
It was the same story in Death Valley's, whose average high was 94.5 degrees, a scorching new record that bested 2012 and 1934, which tied at 94 degrees.
