CNN) - January the 4th-warmest in more than a century. Dogwood and daffodils are abloom across the South, a fact that's not really that unusual until you look at the calendar -- it's only the first week of February.
The blossom confusion is due to the unusually warm conditions across that region and most of the rest of the United States, with the temperatures from last month making it the fourth warmest January in 117 years, the National Climatic Data Center reported Tuesday. Several cities across the United States shattered or tied their record high temperatures for the month.