Last month was the hottest March worldwide since record keeping began in 1880, and the first three months of 2015 also set a new heat record, US government scientists said Friday.

"During March, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.53 Fahrenheit (0.85 Celsius) above the 20th century average," said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"This was the highest for March in the 1880-2015 record, surpassing the previous record of 2010 by 0.09 F (0.05 C)."