U.S. summer sets record as heat domes drive temperatures

Science

The Independent

This summer was the hottest on record in the contiguous United States, the federal temperature record shows, after a record-warm July and August. Multiple lingering heat domes from late July through August, which experts say were partly driven by human-caused climate change, raised temperatures coast to coast and hit the West and South hardest. The Four Corners region saw the warmest counties and states including Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado recorded their warmest summers; examples include Colorado breaking a 57-year daily record and Phoenix reaching 117°F. The heat disrupted events, buckled roads, and contributed to dozens of deaths, and a forming super El Niño may push global temperatures still higher.

Record U.S. summer driven by heat domes and human-caused warming