January to March 2012 was the warmest in US History (just barely warmer than 1921) and NOAA has discussed this endlessly.
What they are not saying is that before they tamper with the data, the same period in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 were all below average.
Also note that the two coldest years (by far) were the start of the satellite record, which severely biases the satellite record to exaggerate warming.
In real science, the 2012 point is what is known as an “outlier”, far off by itself from the other points (in particular the preceding 6 years, as you point out), and hence not to be trusted, much less touted as supporting a global warming trend. The 1921 point also carries no statistical weight.