The Associated Press

It may be cold comfort for Americans in the East and Midwest who shivered through blizzards and subfreezing blitzes, but this past winter was the second-warmest on record for the continental United States, federal meteorologists calculated Monday.

The Lower 48 states averaged 37.13 degrees Fahrenheit from December through February, which is considered meteorological winter. That’s just one-third of a degree below that of the warmest winter, a record set two years ago. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration winter temperature records go back 131 years. The U.S. winter average temperature is 32.2 F.

The higher average temperature was driven primarily by the area west of the Mississippi River, which largely missed out on winter this year, said Russell Vose, NOAA’s climate monitoring chief. The West saw record or near-record warmth all winter, while the East had cold spells that weren’t as extreme in comparison to the West’s heat. A greater land area of the country also saw unusual warmth over bitter cold.