An Avalanche Of Record US Temperatures In An Unprecedented Year - This One

Each dot on this map represents a temperature record set during June of 2012. Click on the image for a larger version. Credit: Climate Central.

The weather this summer has been so extreme that it has rivaled the most destructive and unbearable summers in U.S. history, years that are infamous in weather lore. Those years include 1934 and 1936, which were in the middle of the Dust Bowl era, as well as 1954 and 1988, which was the year that Yellowstone National Park burned and NASA scientist James Hansen first warned the U.S. Senate about the consequences of manmade global warming.

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During June, there were at least 3,282 daily record high temperatures broken or tied, and at least 1,955 records for warmest overnight low temperature. Of these records, 645 were monthly records, and 173 were all-time temperature records.

Sidney Municipal Airport in Nebraska did its part to add to the daily record total by breaking or tying an impressive 20 daily temperature records during June, out of a possible 63 such records during the month.

Through July 18, there have been 3,369 record daily highs broken or tied, and 2,456 record warm overnight low temperature records set or tied. Of these, 349 have been monthly records, and 197 have been all-time records. In a long-term trend that demonstrates the effects of a warming climate, daily record-high temperatures have recently been outpacing daily record lows by an average of 2-to-1, and this imbalance is expected to grow as the climate continues to warm. According to a 2009 study, if the climate were not warming, this ratio would be expected to be even. However, you'll notice that shorter time periods will have much more lopsided ratios, including this year when daily record highs are outnumbering daily record lows 9-to-1. Or, when you look at all warm temperature records, including overnight low temperatures compared to all cold temperature records, the ratio is closer to 7-to-1.

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http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/a-breakdown-of-record-summer-temperatures/