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NASA talks Earth Day with LiveNOW from FOX
Monday is Earth Day and LiveNOW from FOX host Jeane Franseen spoke with NASA on efforts they're doing to help the environment.
Earth Day, April 22, is an opportunity to raise awareness around planetary-scale challenges — including climate change.
As heat-trapping pollution continues to rise, new analysis from Climate Central is highlighting how temperatures are shifting across the United States.
The climate science organization analyzed average annual temperature trends since 1970 in 49 states and 242 U.S. cities to understand how temperatures across the country have changed as heat-trapping pollution has continued to climb.
Alaska, New Jersey are fastest warming states
By the numbers:
According to the data, all 50 states have warmed since 1970 – the year of the first Earth Day.
The 49 states analyzed by Climate Central have warmed by 3.0°F on average since 1970.
Alaska was the fastest-warming state by far (warming 4.4°F since 1970), due to its high latitude, the company noted.
Message sign on Highway 101 displays a warning about extreme heat on July 02, 2024 in Corte Madera, California (Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
This was followed by New Jersey and New Mexico, both of which have warmed 3.7°F since 1970.
The latest NOAA State Climate Summaries found warming across the Hawaiian islands since 1950. Honolulu has warmed 2.6°F since 1950, and since 1975, the city has consistently been above the 1951-1980 average.
Fastest warming states
1. Alaska: 4.4°F
2. New Jersey: 3.7°F
3. New Mexico: 3.7°F
4. Delaware: 3.6°F
5. Massachusetts: 3.6°F
6. Vermont: 3.6°F
See the full report here.
Most cities have warmed since 1970
Dig deeper:
The analysis by Climate Central also looked into the fastest-warming U.S. cities.
According to the findings, 240 major U.S. cities (99% of the 242 analyzed) have warmed since 1970, warming by 2.9°F on average since 1970.
Meanwhile, 206 cities (85% of the 242 analyzed) have experienced at least 2°F of warming.
Grouping cities by climate region, the Southwest (+3.5°F), Upper Midwest (+3.2°F), South (+3.2°F), and Northeast (+3.0°F) have experienced the most warming.
Fastest warming cities
1. Reno, Nevada: 7.9°F
2. Las Vegas, Nevada: 6.0°F
3. El Paso, Texas: 5.9°F
4. Burlington, Vermont: 5.3°F
5. Tyler, Texas: 5.3°F
Greenhouse gases in atmosphere
Big picture view:
The data comes as concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are now far higher than at any point during at least the last 800,000 years.
The annual average concentration of CO2, a key greenhouse gas, was 427 ppm in 2025. That’s 31% higher than in 1970.
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These heat-trapping gases build up in the atmosphere due to the pollution that results from burning fossil fuels (including coal, oil, and methane gas) for electricity, heating and cooling, transportation and more.
The excess heat that these gases trap near Earth’s surface has caused global temperatures to rise faster than at any other time in at least the last 2,000 years.
The Source: The information for this story was provided by Climate Central, which analyzed annual average temperature data (1970-2025) obtained for 247 U.S. weather stations from the Applied Climate Information System (ACIS), which is developed, maintained, and operated by NOAA’s Regional Climate Centers. State and contiguous U.S. temperature data were obtained from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Climate at a Glance. Trends for Hawaii and Puerto Rico were not calculated because they are not included in the NOAA/NCEI dataset with data starting at least in 1970. This story was reported from Los Angeles.