The US just had its hottest summer on record, with heat even more intense than the infamous Dust Bowl summer of 1936. New data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show the Lower 48 and DC logged their hottest June–August on record, with an average temperature of 74.4 degrees Fahrenheit—beating the record set in 1936 and tied in 2021 by 0.4 degrees, which CNN notes “is relatively large for an all-time temperature record.” Some 1,571 record monthly highs were recorded across the US, and just 87 record lows.
The real kicker was after dark: 2026 set a record for the highest nighttime lows, with a Washington Post analysis finding 133 million Americans live in counties where at least a quarter of nights were “extremely hot” compared with the past 45 years. Another 56.8 million live where one in four days hit extreme heat. The heat hit early in the West, where eight states from Texas to California saw their hottest January–May stretch on record; Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah notched their hottest summers, and Arizona tied its record
Four of the six hottest US summers have occurred since 2021, and climate scientists say marine heat waves currently cover 40% of the world’s oceans. Last month was the world’s hottest on record and with a strong El Niño in play, researchers put the odds that 2027 becomes the hottest year on record at 95%.
“The 1936 heat wave was largely a human-induced disaster. The over-plowing of the Great Plains that helped foster the Dust Bowl left the landscape so denuded that water evaporated quickly and the landscape warmed up fast,” meteorologist Bob Henson tells the Post. “It’s a flashing red light that we’re now able to get US summers even hotter than those in the Dust Bowl.”