© Getty Images/Rob Carr
John Rose tries to cool off while selling water to passing motorists on a street corner in Baltimore in July.
The USA just endured its hottest summer in 75 years and the second-hottest summer on record, according to data released Thursday afternoon by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
The average U.S. temperature during the summer of 2011 was 74.5 degrees, which was 2.4 degrees above the long-term (1901-2000) average. Only the Dust Bowl year of 1936, at 74.6 degrees, was warmer.
Four states - Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana - had their warmest summer ever recorded, the climate center also reported.
Average temperatures for the summer in Texas and Oklahoma, at 86.8 degrees and 86.5 degrees, respectively, exceeded the previous statewide average temperature record for any state during any season.
Texas also suffered through its driest summer on record. The state is in the midst of its worst drought since the 1950s. More than 81% of the state is listed as experiencing extreme drought, the worst category, according to Thursday's U.S. Drought Monitor.
Comment: It appears that in Washington and Oregon, summer has only just started. Day time Temps for September have been in the high 70's (24c) to low 80's (27c). There was snow fall in western Washington and Northwest Oregon in April of 2011 as well. There was a similar pattern in 2010.