WASHINGTON — September was the second warmest month in 130 years of recordkeeping, just behind 2005, the U.S. government said Thursday.

World temperatures last month averaged 60.1 degrees Fahrenheit (15.6 degrees Celsius), or 1.1 degrees (0.6 degree Celsius) above normal, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Three-quarters of the way through the year, NOAA said, 2009 is lining up to be the sixth warmest year on record.

Accordingly, because of an El Nino weather event, warming in parts of the Pacific Ocean that affects weather worldwide, the agency also reported that much of the United States probably will have a warmer winter than normal.

Even Alaska, at the northwestern tip of North America, has a higher chance of warmer temperatures.

The El Nino will play a big role in helping some drought-parched regions of the United States, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.

Halpert said the El Nino currently is weak but is expected to strengthen to a moderate-sized weather variation in the next few weeks. The El Nino not only influences the forecast but it also gives forecasters more confidence that what they predict will come true, he said.

The El Nino makes forecasts for a wetter southern Texas and less than average snowfall in the northern Rockies far more likely to come true, Halpert said.

And it may not be good news for next year's Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Olympic city can expect "a dry and warm winter, but it certainly can be cool enough for snow," Halpert said.