U.S. Sets a Summer-Heat Record This Year
Average temperature of 74 degrees Fahrenheit was 0.01 degree above previous record in 1936
The U.S. had its hottest summer on record, narrowly beating out highs set during the Dust Bowl in 1936.
The average temperature for the Lower 48 states from June to August was 74 degrees Fahrenheit—or 2.6 degrees above average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. That average is just 0.01 degree Fahrenheit above the previous record, set in the summer of 1936.
NOAA said a record 18.4% of the contiguous U.S. experienced its warmest temperatures. Five states—California, Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Idaho—reported their hottest summers, and 16 had their top-five warmest summers on record, according to the federal agency’s U.S. Climate Report for August 2021. No state had a below-average temperature for the summer.
A record-breaking heat wave in the Pacific Northwest in June left more than 100 people dead, as temperatures soared into the triple digits.
Most of the U.S. West is in severe drought conditions, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Over half the region is classified as “extreme” to “exceptional” drought, the highest category designated by the National Weather Service.
Large fires have broken out in California, Oregon and Washington, including the Dixie Fire, the second largest in California’s history.
Meanwhile, rain was above average across parts of the Great Basin and Southwest as well as from the southern Plains to the Great Lakes, according to the NOAA report.
“Mississippi had its wettest summer on record, with Alabama, Michigan, New York and Massachusetts ranking among their five wettest summers on record,” the report said.
The high levels of rain meant that flooding, including deadly flash floods, was also an issue this summer, according to the report. “With 35 fatalities accounted for during August, it was the deadliest month for flooding across the U.S. since Hurricane Harvey in 2017,” NOAA said.