NOAA has released the numbers on July’s temperatures within the US, and they continue the trend of what’s been an exceptionally scorching year. With temperatures a full 3.3°F above the twentieth century average, it was the hottest month ever recorded within the US. While only one state (Virginia) set a record high monthly temperature, 32 different states across a broad sweep of the country had months that were in the top 10; combined, that made for an exceptional month.
But July is only the latest in a string of exceptionally hot months. The first seven months of this year were the hottest on record, and the 12-month period that includes it also set a record (narrowly beating out the 12 months that ended this past June). But simply describing records doesn’t truly convey what an outlier this year is for the US; fortunately, NOAA has provided a graph that does so. As it clearly shows, every month since February is a serious outlier from historic conditions.
How exceptional has 2012 been? The dark red trace shows that almost every month has been an outlier. (NOAA)
via ars technica
