A Record-Hot U.S. Summer

The nation overall experienced its second-hottest summer ever, and the Southwest sweltered.

Photo By: National Climatic Data Center / NESDIS/NOAA

The U.S. experienced the second-warmest summer ever recorded, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Southwest was trapped in an overheated record drought that ranks among the record number of billion-dollar weather disasters of 2011.

Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana set new records for the hottest August on record, and the last four on that list set records for the hottest summer overall. The "exceptional" drought covering Texas and parts of Louisiana, New Mexico and Oklahoma is more intense than the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, though it hasn't lasted as long. Texas hasn't been this dry since 1789.

The high temperatures led to record-high energy demand, more than 22% above average.

Extreme weather is likely to continue, since NOAA reports a resurgence of La Nina conditions that in the last year has contributed to "record winter snowfall, spring flooding and drought across the United States, as well as other extreme weather events throughout the world, such as heavy rain in Australia and an extremely dry equatorial eastern Africa."