The U.S. just had its hottest summer on record

[left-of-center2012]

Source: NBC News

Sept. 9, 2021, 1:05 PM MDT
The United States had its hottest summer on record this year, narrowly edging out the previous milestone that was set 85 years ago during the Dust Bowl.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday that the average temperature this summer for the contiguous U.S. was 74 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2.6 degrees warmer than the long-term average. The heat record caps off a season full of extremes, with parts of the country experiencing persistent drought, wildfires, record-breaking heat waves, hurricanes and other extreme weather exacerbated by climate change.

This summer beat the previous record set in 1936 by a hair, coming in at less than 0.01 degrees warmer than during the Dust Bowl year, when huge portions of the West and Great Plains were parched by severe drought. Though this year's summer was technically hotter than 1936, the very small gap puts the two years "neck and neck," in what NOAA called a "virtual tie."

Global warming is making heat waves and other extreme weather events both more likely and more severe, and climate scientists have said conditions this summer offer a glimpse of what could become more common in the future.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/us-just-hottest-summer-record-rcna1957

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NOAA's report highlighted other extreme events that plagued the country in August, including devastating floods from Tropical Storm Fred, which hit western North Carolina; Tropical Storm Henri, which soaked parts of the Northeast; and flash flooding that killed at least 22 people in Tennessee.

Hurricane Ida, which battered Louisiana and left a trail of destruction from the Gulf Coast into the Northeast, also drenched huge swaths of the country from late August into September

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[bhikkhu]

1. It's been cooler than normal where I'm at

Because so much of the region has been on fire we've hardly seen the sun all summer. It sucks.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. That's what Mother Nature attempts to do

"balance" - "hotter than normal" in one spot and "cooler than normal" in another, although in general, the "hotter than normal" will be fractionally warm enough to make the average of the warm areas and cool areas "higher" than it usually would be.

[Tiger8]

2. It could average 120 degrees for them

Republicans will believe Jewish Space Lasers are to blame - but Trump was sent by god to save us.

Forget Republicans, with their fake freedumb, willful ignorance & hate radio.

[marybourg]

3. I just had my smallest August electric

bill in nearly 3 decades in PHX!

[Grokenstein]

4. GQP: "Awwww, you say that EVERY year!"

"But I ain't believe it 'cuz I don' wanna!"

[Champp]

6. "No problem. It's just a lib hoax." - Oily Republicans, Inc.

[Bengus81]

7. Forecast of 100 tomorrow in Wichita

Supposed to be 98 today so looks like it will happen. One hot and humid summer that keeps on keeping on. Average high should be 84 degrees.

[stamperman]

8. Didnt seem too hot to me in my neck of the woods

But sure was the wettest summer I remember. August broke all records for rain.

[djm5971]

9. Those whacky Chinese!

They sure do a good job at perpetrating a hoax!