US records hottest summer in 132 years
The United States had its hottest summer since records began, says NOAA, with August also setting a new heat record.
The United States just had its hottest summer on record, with extreme heat and drought gripping large parts of the country.
From June through August, the average temperature across the contiguous US was 23.6 degrees Celsius (74.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said on Wednesday.
That was 1.7C (3F) above the 20th-century average and 0.2C (0.4F) hotter than the previous record, set in both 1936 and 2021.
By September 1, about 59 percent of the contiguous US was experiencing drought, up more than 10 percentage points in a month. Conditions worsened across parts of the Great Plains, Midwest and South regions, with Texas and Oklahoma receiving less than 30 percent of their usual August rainfall.