Scientists: July '12 Was Hottest Month Ever Recorded In U.S. - WRIC Richmond News and Weather -

Scientists: July '12 Was Hottest Month Ever Recorded In U.S.

Posted: Updated:

  • 8News

  • Wednesday, June 19 2013 9:52 PM EDT2013-06-20 01:52:22 GMT
    LOS ANGELES (AP) - HBO and James Gandolfini's managers say the actor famous for "The Sopranos" has died in Italy.(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
    LOS ANGELES (AP) - HBO and James Gandolfini's managers say the actor famous for "The Sopranos" has died in Italy.(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

  • Wednesday, June 19 2013 8:06 PM EDT2013-06-20 00:06:42 GMT
    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Houston's Astrodome stadium, New York's old Pan Am Worldport Terminal at Kennedy Airport and Montana's one-room schoolhouses are joining a list of the nation's most endangered historic
    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Houston's Astrodome stadium, New York's old Pan Am Worldport Terminal at Kennedy Airport and Montana's one-room schoolhouses are joining a list of the nation's most endangered historic

  • Wednesday, June 19 2013 6:17 PM EDT2013-06-19 22:17:11 GMT
    SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Celebrity cook Paula Deen said while being questioned in a discrimination lawsuit that she has used racial slurs in the past but insisted she and her family do not tolerate prejudice. The
    SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- Celebrity cook Paula Deen said while being questioned in a discrimination lawsuit that she has used racial slurs in the past but insisted she and her family do not tolerate prejudice. The
    •   

WASHINGTON (AP) -- This probably comes as no surprise: Federal scientists say July was the hottest month ever recorded in the contiguous United States.

The average temperature for the Lower 48 last month was 77.6 degrees. That breaks the old record from July 1936, during the Dust Bowl, by two-tenths of a degree. Records go back to 1895.

Last month also was 3.3 degrees warmer than the 20th century average for July.

The first seven months of 2012 were the warmest on record for the nation. And August 2011 through July this year was the warmest 12-month period on record.

Climate scientist Jake Crouch of the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., said the U.S. is getting a double whammy of both localized heat and drought along with effects of global warming.

 

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.