July Was the Hottest Month on Record in the U.S.🥵
July was the hottest month ever recorded in the contiguous U.S., the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday, marking an already scorching summer.
The average temperature was 76.9 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest in NOAA’s 132-year record and more than three degrees above the 20th-century average. Daytime highs averaged nearly 90 degrees. While July was relatively dry overall, several regions saw heavy rainfall and flash flooding, including Texas and New York.
Every state ranked in the top third of its July temperature records. Wyoming was hit especially hard, with temperatures 5.1 degrees above average.
“It was a wild weather month,” NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, which released the figures, said on social media.
The heat disrupted major events nationwide. A heat dome early in the month threatened World Cup matches and curbed celebrations of America’s 250th birthday. Several-day stretches of elevated temperatures prompted health officials to warn of serious, potentially deadly conditions such as heat stroke.
Alaska and Hawaii, which are not part of the contiguous U.S., fared much better. Alaska had its coldest July average temperature since 2008, while Hawaii’s month was roughly average.
Meanwhile, Europe has faced its own heat wave, with less air conditioning to temper it, closing schools and straining electrical grids.
July’s record follows the hottest June on record, according to U.S. and European scientists. On Monday, temperatures in cities across the U.S. topped 90 degrees.
