🛑 July was the warmest month ever recorded in the contiguous United States, surpassing previous record-setting temperatures from 1936 and 2012

Temperatures across the lower 48 states, along with DC, averaged above the 20th-century mean, with every state ranking in the warmest third of their historical records

US was generally dry, ranking in the driest third of the 132-year record with 6.5 centimeters (2.55 inches) of rainfall as extreme weather events persisted