March Globally Hottest on Record

According to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the world's combined global land and ocean surface temperatures made March the warmest March on record.  Looking seperately at ocean and land - average ocean temperatures were the warmest for any March and the global land surface temperature was the fourth warmest March.  Adding to that, the planet has seen the fourth warmest January - March period on record.  The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for March was 56.3°F, which is almost 1.39°F above the 20th century average.
Ocean surface temperatures worldwide were the highest for any March on record: 1.01°F above the 54.9°F average.  Global land surface temperatures were 2.45°F above the average which sits at 40.8°. 

The image above shows the "difference from average", which gives more of an accurate picture of temperature change.  From that, you can see Northern Africa, South Asia and Canada were warmer than normal.  Parts of Russia, Northern and Western Europe, Mexico, Northern Australia, Western Alaska and the Southeastern US were cooler than normal. Even though El Nino weakened to moderate strength during the month of March, it still contributed to the warmth in the tropical belt and overall ocean temperatures.  Looking into this Spring, El Nino is expected to continue before possibily returning the neutral conditions by summer.

courtesy: NOAA/National Climatic Data Center/NESDIS