Let’s look at some of the records for the month:, according to the National Climatic Data Center, a division of NOAA:

  • For the contiguous U.S., the average temperature for August was 75.4°F (24.1°C), which was 2.7°F (1.5°C) above the 20th century mean and the second warmest August on record.
  • More than 30 all-time high temperature records were tied or broken, and more than 2000 new daily high temperature records were established.
  • Raleigh-Durham, N.C., equaled its all-time high of 105°F on August 21, and Columbia, S.C., had 14 days in August with temperatures over 100°F, which broke the 1900 record of 12 days. Cincinnati, OH, reached 100°F five days during August, a new record for the city.
  • The warmest August in the 113-year record occurred in eight eastern states (West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida) along with Utah.
  • Texas had its wettest summer on record.
  • This was the driest summer since records began in 1895 for North Carolina, and the second driest for Tennessee.
  • At the end of August, drought affected approximately 83 percent of the Southeast and 46 percent of the contiguous U.S.

Coincidence? I think not!

This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.