While the new year already has a handful of days on the books, 2023 officially was a record year.According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service, 2023 was the hottest ever recorded in Texas.The data, which goes back to 2000, said that 2023 had the highest monthly mean average temperature. The average temperature in the state measured 68.1 degrees last year, beating the previous 2012 record by 0.3 degrees. Every year since 2000 in Texas has been warmer than the 20th century average, said John Nielsen-Gammon, state climatologist. Last year was 3.5 degrees hotter than the 20th-century ...