July’s sweltering heat officially torched the record books, earning the rank as the hottest month ever recorded in the contiguous US, according to forecasters.
The average temperature in the lower 48 states in July was 76.9 degrees Fahrenheit, roughly 3.3 degrees above the 20th-century average — marking the warmest month in the 132-year record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Though it was unusually cool in Alaska, the hotter-than-average temps suffocated much of the Mountain West, Southwest, Northern Plains, and Southeast, NOAA said.
Numerous areas across the Mid-Atlantic — including Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Washington, DC — recorded their most sizzling Fourth of July, the agency said.
Despite below-average precipitation in July, the lower 48 states also experienced torrential rainfall and multiple major flash flooding events. Rainfall totals in eastern New York reached a staggering 12 inches last month.
The searing, oppressive heat across large swaths of the US eclipsed the Dust Bowl’s July 1936 record by 0.8 degrees. The year was tied with 2021 for America’s hottest summer from June through August.
The intense temperatures during that period were largely concentrated in the Midwest and aggravated by agricultural practices at the time, according to Russ Vose, chief of monitoring at NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information.
Scientiest blame the modern-day record heat on the burning of coal, oil and gas.
“Extremely high temperatures across the continental US this summer, along with intense drought and fire conditions, are absolutely consistent with the climate change signal,’ said Katharine Jacobs, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona.
“If you’re talking heat waves, that nighttime low is incredibly important for determining total heat stress,” Masters said. “So if it doesn’t cool off at night, your body doesn’t have time to readjust to all the heat.”
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