July was hottest month on record in contiguous US: NOAA

Energy & Environment July was hottest month on record in contiguous US: NOAA Comments: by Max Rego - 08/10/26 4:48 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Max Rego - 08/10/26 4:48 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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July marked the hottest month on record in the contiguous U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Temperatures in the mainland 48 states and Washington, D.C., averaged 76.9 degrees Fahrenheit. That was roughly 0.1 to 0.2 degrees hotter than July 1936 and July 2012, according to the NOAA, which has records dating to 1895.

Daytime maximum temperatures averaged 89.5 degrees Fahrenheit in July, making it the sixth-warmest month on record during the day.

Overnight temperatures, meanwhile, averaged 64.2 degrees Fahrenheit — 3.7 degrees above the all-time average and the highest mark in any month on record, 0.7 degrees hotter than the average in July 2022.

Climate change has led to hotter nights during the summer, according to an analysis researchers at Climate Central conducted using data from 1970 to 2024.

Alaska’s average temperature was 0.9 degrees cooler than its average from 1925 to 2000, while Hawaii’s was 0.6 degrees hotter than its 1991 to 2020 average.

The NOAA noted “much-above-average” temperatures occurred throughout the interior West, Southwest, Rockies, northern Plains, upper Midwest and parts of the Gulf Coast and Southeast. Thirteen states had one of their five warmest Julys, including Wyoming, which recorded its warmest month on record by 0.9 degrees.

The high temperatures occurred amid below-average precipitation throughout the northern Rockies, northern Plains, upper Midwest, Northeast, the southern Plains, Mississippi Valley, central Gulf Coast and Southeast, the NOAA noted.

But other segments of the country experienced above-average precipitation, including parts of the West, Southwest, central Plains and upper Midwest.

Roughly 48.5 percent of the mainland 48 states and D.C. were in drought as of Tuesday, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. More than two-thirds of Puerto Rico was also in drought.

Since President Trump returned to office, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has altered its approach to tackling climate change. Last month, the EPA proposed loosening pollution requirements for trucks, a move it argued would cut compliance costs.

When reached for comment on the statistics from the NOAA, an EPA official referred The Hill to the former agency.

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