Staff Report –

Summer 2021 was the hottest summer on record, according to 126 years of records for the contiguous United States. So says a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released Thursday.

The average temperature for all of the Lower 48 states from June through August was 74.0 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2.6 degrees above average.

That barely edged out the Dust Bowl summer of 1936 for the top spot by less than 0.01 of a degree, NOAA said.

For reference, meteorologists define summer based on what is typically the hottest time of year – June through August.

California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Utah all had a record-hot summer.

An additional 21 states had a top-10 hottest summer, stretching from the Front Range of the Rockies and Northern Plains to the Great Lakes and Northeast.

Only parts of the Deep South had a summer with temperatures close to average.

A record-hot June across the Lower 48 helped propel summer 2021 to the hottest on record, NOAA says. That was followed by the 13th- and 14th-hottest July and August, respectively.

Four of the five hottest contiguous U.S. summers have now happened in the past 11 years, according to the report.

2021 and 1936 are neck-and-neck for first and second place. Rounding out the top five are 2012, 2011 and 2020.

The year-to-date as a whole is not quite in the top 10 hottest for the Lower 48. January through August had an average temperature 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above average, which ranks as 13th-warmest for that nine-month period.

Regardless of where it ends up on the list, summer 2021 will continue the long-term trend from climate change.

Eight of the nation’s top 10 warmest summers have occurred in this century, according to NOAA. Only two summers in the 21st century were cooler than average – 2004 and 2009.

Since 1970, much of the U.S. has seen a warmer trend in summer, according to an analysis from Climate Central. This is particularly the case from Texas to the West and also in much of the East from Florida to Michigan to New England.

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