E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSMore than half of the country experienced "moderate to exceptional" drought conditions at the end of July, the hottest month ever recorded. And the impact of this hot weather has been felt across the nation as crops shrivel and wildfires rage out of control. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
It may come as little surprise with this summer's sweaty nights and blistering days across much of the country, but July marked the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States, according to government scientists. Furthermore, drought now covers nearly 63 percent of the Lower 48 states, where average precipitation is 0.19 inch below average.
A bit of hope, though, was seen for some crops in the Midwest thanks to cooler temperatures and rain.
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the average temperature across the contiguous United States in July was 77.6 Fahrenheit, a full 3.3 degrees above the 20th century average.
The previous warmest July was in 1936, when the nation's average temperature was 77.4 degrees.
The hot July contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since accurate record keeping started in 1895.
Virginia experienced its warmest July on record, with a statewide temperature a whopping 4 F above average. In all, 32 states had July temperatures among its 10 warmest, with seven states having their second warmest July on record.
While heat and extreme events such as drought and wildfires are often associated with global warming and climate change, it's unclear if the latest pattern is part of a much larger trend.
Related: Drought socks crops despite recent showers
"These events are kind of what we'd expect with climate change, we'd expect expanding drought, we'd expect warm, record breaking temperatures," Jake Crouch, a NOAA climate scientist, told NBC News. "But it's kind of hard to pinpoint this month or past several months as a telltale sign that climate change is happening. The drought is more of a local factor and isn't necessarily driven by large scale climate change, but is impacting local temperatures. But we've also seen an increase in U.S. temperatures overall."
Still, there's no doubt this summer is taking a human toll, with warmer nights making it difficult for some people to sleep, and causing physical stress, Crouch said.
And the drought rollls on, with drier-than-average conditions continuing across the Central Plains and Midwest. Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri had July precipitation totals ranking among their 10 driest.
Some rain and cooler temperatures in the drought-stricken Midwest, however, are expected to provide relief for late-season soybeans, but the change in the weather is arriving too late to help the already severely damaged corn crop, an agricultural meteorologist said on Wednesday.
"It's definitely better than what we've had but I'd be hesitant to call it a drought-buster. Longer-term outlooks still look like a return to warm and dry," said Jason Nicholls, meteorologist for AccuWeather.
Related: Blame blistering heat waves on global warming, study says
Nicholls said up to three-quarters of an inch of rain, with locally heavier amounts, was expected in roughly 75 percent of the Midwest from Wednesday through Friday morning, and a similar weather system is expected next week.
Though the heat can be uncomfortable, not everyone is complaining. “The heat is definitely a blessing for us after coming off the warm, dry winter without a lot of weather events,” Alan Ayers, general manager at Crisafulli Brothers Plumbing and Heating Contractors in Albany, told The Associated Press.
The 73-year-old company has seen an 18 percent increase in new air conditioner installations over last year and has its 16 technicians working long hours to install, replace and repair units taxed by the swelter.
A storm pattern in the Southwest contributed to California's fifth wettest July on record and Nevada experiencing its eighth wettest, NOAA said. Wetter-than-average conditions were also reported through the rest of the Southwest, along the western Gulf Coast, and through the Ohio Valley where West Virginia had its tenth wettest July.
The warm and dry conditions over a large swath of the United States were seen as ideal wildfire conditions, NOAA said. More than 2 million acres burned nationwide in July because of wildfires. That is nearly half a million acres above average, and the fourth most on record since 2000.
Over the weekend the fires that burned across the state damaged nearly 94,000 acres and on Monday a body was found in a Norman home. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
More content from NBCNews.com:
- Minister stands trial in international lesbian kidnap case
- Are nuns getting ready to spurn the Vatican?
- Girl, 6, found clinging to corpse in middle of lake
- Missing best friends found dead in New Jersey river
- Video: Athletes reveal the royal who makes them swoon
Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
Leave a Comment:
But the other nite, i was listening to george nory and the kook roy spenser on the radio. They were dissing co2 causing global warming. Then a caller asked - what if you are wrong. But hey, excellent question. What if the 98% of the world's climate scientists are right - then what. I tell you george & roy spenser were stunned. They had no answers. It must have been because of the hockey stick temperatures where the temperatures shoot straight up & off the tops of the millions of years temperature charts. They didn't want to tell anybody. That if temperatures kept climbing straight up & off the top the millions of years temperature chart, all life on earth will perish.
Golly marshal,
How much time do you think we have left? Can you consult with some of your "world's climate scientists" and get back to us? We've gotta get ready.
Please hurry, please!
Oh oh, stay tuned. The next thing we will see are the Far Left doorknobs, driving down the streets, in their $40,000 Chevy Volts, yelling out their windows.......it's Bush's fault, it's Bush's fault!!!
At the same time, the glitter morons in Hollywood will, once again, start flying around the world in their jumbo jets, telling everyone that the U.S. is the worst and that we really need to start riding bicycles, everywhere we go.
Idiots!
Yeah, that's exactly what they do, those doorknobs and glitter morons. How observant of you to notice. Nothing much gets past you does it?
Dave, lots of people are hypocrites. It doesn't change the science.
No Zorro, thank you, it doesn't.
Please tell me you're not texting and riding your bike at the same time.
You're welcome Dave. I just think it is oh so cool how you figured out what those doorknobs and glitter morons will be doing. You are clearly a genius. I'll bet nobody ever thinks that you are stupid. Of course, you are wrong about a couple of things: I don't text, and I don't have a bicycle. But then, nobody's right 100% of the time.
Don't worry! The UN is saving us all with carbon credits. Bahahaha. Fools.
What's funny in a sad sort of way is the fact that these psychotic propagandist know absolutely nothing about the global CCX market and how Barry Hussein, Goldman Sachs, Gore and many of their cohorts around the world are pushing this hoax ... this is a multi-trillion dollar play and these dog waggers are not going to let this one go.
Well, for sure I know nothing about it. But I'm sure glad you do so that you can tip us off. I'm sure, because you are such a special person, that you are privy to all sorts of private information that most people wouldn't have access to.
Carbon creidts have always been ripe for abuse, but then anything involving money and corporations will be abused. It doesn't change the science of climate change.
can't eat money or oil ..... can't eat steel or coal ... cant harvest concrete for food ... that is what some people seem to think we need more of ....
What fascinates me about this whole debate has to do with the motivation of the various participants. I can understand the motivation of climate scientists who are afraid that global warming will have disastrous effects on human life. They want the human species to survive and prosper. And the argument that they are just taking this position to get grant money is ridiculous. There are too many involved and the grant money is often coming from the most prestigious and responsible foundations. The argument that the whole thing is a hoax is even more ridiculous. A hoax would require the organization and cooperation of at least a million people, from the scientists themselves to foundation personnel, university administrators, government officials, research assistants, etc. The e-mails among them setting up this hoax could easily be monitored. It is far more likely that the genesis of the charge that the whole thing is a hoax is a hoax itself. Now, what is the motivation of those opposed to the notion of global climate change. I am sure there are responsible scientists among them who, dedicated to the pursuit of truth, take a skeptical position as a devil's advocate more than anything else. We need these scientists. They keep people honest. But there is clear evidence that others are working for the industries that are causing climate change and who don't want to have to spend the money to change their ways. Their motivation is clear. But what is good for their bottom line is not necessarily good for us.
Facts, facts, facts. Don't try to confuse right wing climate deniers with facts for heaven sake. Their minds will simple reject them, kind of like a body tends to reject a transplant.
"July is the hottest month on record" That is true. In my neck of the woods the average long term temperature is 82. Yesterday's record is 97 in 1949. We are now going to enter the "Dog Day's of Summer". It ain't over yet. Then we will have to wait many months for the "Summer's" return.
The obvious thing that damns the right-wing red-necks is that they do not even listen to their neighborhood farmers, bird watchers, amateur meteorologists...
They don't look outside their own window.
They don't use their own brain.
The good news is that a religious-right zealot will NOT be in power this time; or for the foreseeable future.
Romney is a good, smart, responsible man.
THIS climate change will make at least one species extinct; the hair-brained red-neck peasant.
there will be idiots that will argue the color of the sky if they don't have to do anything about it ..... ps. solar futures are WAAAYYY up ...... sitting on a scorched plain with a sign that reads "Global warning is a myth" ..... screaming at the dead plants .."It's only a temporary trend " ..... can't eat money or oil ..... can't eat steel or coal ... cant harvest concrete for food ... that is what some people seem to think we need more of ....
When looking at the climate, it is important to distinguish between individual observations and the overall trend. It is not the fact that we are having a record heat year that is most concerning, although devastating enough, it is that this type of thing is happening more and more often. Yes we've had extreme heat before. But the extreme is becoming the normal.
When people say that earth's climate has changed up and down for eons, that is true. But, it is the rate of change that is alarming. We are heating up very fast. Look at the chart at the link below, and you'll see that in the last 100 years and you'll see what I mean.
looks like we are in between shifts of those with a film of oil on their dollar bills
When people say that no matter what we do, earth's climate will get hotter. Yes, that's true. Eventually the sun will expand and engulf the earth. Some 4 billion years from now. Much sooner than that, earth will become inhabitable. But do we need to hasten the trend? Frankly, I'm not even concerned about my grandchildren any more. I'm concerned about my own kids. They are in for a rough ride. Actually, it looks like we are too. The problem is here now.
Panther has apparently scampered off to try to think up some more clever names to call people.
Saying that even if we agree that there is climate change there is nothing we can do about it, so we might as well stop talking about it, is a copout. The first step in fixing a problem is accepting that it exists.
and take actions to stop making things worse
Well, that's a hopeful next step :-) But as long as there's enough people out there claiming that it global warming does not exist, politicians can duck for cover.
only in america is there a science denier industry. all other countries recognize and are addressing the problem to some extent or another.
oops, here is the link to the temperature chart I was referring too earlier:
It clearly shows an upward trend in temperature in the past 100 years, coincident with the industrial revolution.
Hm...Not sure this thing is allowing me to post link. Oh well, Google "Wikipedia Temperature record of the past 1000 years"
don't worry about the chart; they just ignore the science;
orignal words expressing logic and reason drive them nuts though
"Few seem to realise that the present IPCC models predict almost unanimously that by 2040 the average summer in Europe will be as hot as the summer of 2003 when over 30,000 died from heat. By then we may cool ourselves with air conditioning and learn to live in a climate no worse than that of Baghdad now. But without extensive irrigation the plants will die and both farming and natural ecosystems will be replaced by scrub and desert. What will there be to eat? The same dire changes will affect the rest of the world and I can envisage Americans migrating into Canada and the Chinese into Siberia but there may be little food for any of them." --Dr James Lovelock's lecture to the Royal Society, 29 Oct. '07
"The alternative (to geoengineering) is the acceptance of a massive natural cull of humanity and a return to an Earth that freely regulates itself but in the hot state." --Dr James Lovelock, August 2008
"A volume about the size of a #2 pencil eraser of water provides as much energy as two 48-gallon drums of gasoline. That is 355,000 times the amount of energy per volume – five orders of magnitude." ( ).
This phenomenon (LENR) has been confirmed in hundreds of published scientific papers:
"Over 2 decades with over 100 experiments worldwide indicate LENR is real, much greater than chemical..." --Dennis M. Bushnell, Chief Scientist, NASA Langley Research Center
"Total replacement of fossil fuels for everything but synthetic organic chemistry." --Dr. Joseph M. Zawodny, NASA
By the way, here is a survey of all the companies that are bringing LENR to commercialization:
yes the only thing is that ANY invention that threatens the oil and gas industry is usually gobbled up by their patten clerks, their lobbyists or their lawyers.
Well. I'm assuming that certain percentage of the population is not open to reason. But I think there's another percent who have a hard time grasping the concepts. Part of the problem is when the news media presents the arguments for and against as if they are equally valid, in the interest of "fair and balanced" journalism", they confuse people. If you are not a scientist, and two scientists are presented to you with opposing points of view, what are you to believe? I think that the groups interest in denying global warming know this only too well. And they put up just enough misinformation to confuse the people who don't have the background to sort it out on their own.
Or any concept for that matter. Some of what I read on this topic here today doesn't even have a base in facts. Many just make up facts and spew them out like somehow the utterance makes it true.
Can't stand the heat, then don't more down here to Texas.
I think Canada is looking better and better.
What drought? - From Seattle
We're the only area in the continental US which has been below normal most days, but we too broke a few records and did just last Sunday. I live near Tacoma BTW.
Isn't it ironic that the plumber who installs air conditioning is the only happy camper? Now we will have to burn more fuel to power all those air conditioners, which will probably put more CO2 into the atmosphere, which will cause more rapid bad hot changes!
Another record broken and the world continues to warm.
maybe obama should just make it rain
Actually...he should PROMISE to make it rain. Whether he does or not doesn't seem to deter his followers. Promising is as good as doing, in the Demo camp. Their world is getting warmer, but not while they are alive.
I realize there is a drought but as much rain as the Pensacola area has gotten, since march of this year, we really should be out of the drought by now.
"These events are kind of what we'd expect with climate change <~~~~ Okay Jake, are you talking 1936 or now...or both...or do you know!
I live near Astoria OR and it has been the coldest wettest year (again). We did break a record Sunday at 91 degrees, following 82 degrees on Saturday. Other than that, low to mid 60's. Again, no corn, not enough sun, no tomatoes, ditto. We are having the opposite problems that back East is having.
We moved up here because of Global Warming/Climate Change, from the SF Bay Area, which was becoming brutally hot. Now the whole West Coast seems to be cool (this year).
I am a firm believer in man-made change.....you cannot release millions of years worth of CO2 in 100 or so years and not think there wouldn't be some effect. Nuclear is not the answer, do we want another 3 Mile Isle, Chernobyl or Fukushima? Less people, more wind and solar, hydro, etc. Whatever it takes.
This is off topic, but someone mentioned pollution...this huge garbage dump swirling around in the ocean...is anything going to be done about it? Cleaning it up would create quite a few jobs. IMHO.