Map: America's Hottest Month Ever, State by State
Newsweek · C · trust 66/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. A newly released map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shaded almost entirely in red, shows that July 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded across the contiguous United States.
Data published Monday by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) found that the Lower 48 states averaged 76.9 degrees Fahrenheit during July, making it not only the warmest July on record but the hottest month of any kind since federal recordkeeping began in 1895. The previous benchmarks, set during July 1936 and July 2012, were surpassed by roughly one to two tenths of a degree.
The record-setting month adds to a growing body of evidence showing how rising global temperatures are influencing weather extremes. Scientists have repeatedly found that human-caused climate change is making heat waves more intense, more frequent and longer-lasting, while warmer overnight temperatures are reducing opportunities for people, crops and infrastructure to recover from daytime heat. Last month's exceptional warmth came amid a summer marked by repeated heat domes across different regions of the country, amplifying temperatures from coast-to-coast.
Newsweek reached out to NOAA and NCEI by email for comment.
Related Story Map Shows 19 States Under Extreme Heat Dome Warning: ‘Stay Out of the Sun’ The NOAA map accompanying the report illustrates the scale of the event. Above-average temperatures stretched across the entire contiguous U.S., with every state ranking within the warmest third of its historical July record. No state experienced near-average or below-average conditions.
Some of the most pronounced temperature departures from normal were observed across the interior West, Southwest, Rocky Mountains, northern Plains and Upper Midwest, the map showed. Parts of the Gulf Coast and Southeast also experienced significantly warmer-than-average conditions.
NOAA reported that Wyoming recorded its warmest July on record and, notably, the hottest month of any kind ever observed in the state's climate record. Average temperatures there were 5.1 degrees above normal, surpassing the state's previous July record, set in 2007, by nearly a full degree.
While Wyoming was the only state specifically identified as setting an all-time statewide monthly record, NOAA said 13 states ranked among their five warmest Julys ever recorded.
The findings follow weeks of intense heat that repeatedly expanded into different parts of the country. A major heat wave gripped much of the eastern U.S. around the Fourth of July holiday before additional periods of extreme heat developed later in the month across the Plains, Rockies and Southwest.
Scientists say one of the most telling aspects of the July data was how warm nights became.
While daytime highs averaged 89.5 degrees nationwide, the largest anomaly occurred in overnight temperatures. Average nighttime lows reached 64.2 degrees, the warmest monthly minimum-temperature reading in the federal climate record and about 3.7 degrees above average.
Climate researchers often view rising nighttime temperatures as a particularly important indicator of long-term warming because they can increase health risks during heat waves. Without cooler overnight conditions, the human body receives less relief from prolonged heat exposure, and electricity demand for cooling can remain elevated around the clock.
The heat coincided with expanding drought across portions of the West, Rockies and northern Plains, while parts of the Pacific Northwest and western Canada battled significant wildfire activity.
Although Alaska bucked the national trend and experienced its coolest July since 2008, the red-shaded NOAA map underscores the broader picture: the entire Lower 48 experienced unusually warm conditions during a month that has now entered the record books as America's hottest ever.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Steve Mollman and Anthony Murray .
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