Extreme heat in the U.S. Southwest carried August 2020 into the record books as the country’s third-warmest August in the 126-year record. Despite heavy rain from landfalling tropical cyclones, national average precipitation was in the driest third of the record.
The latest monthly summary from the National Centers for Environmental Information also reported that the year-to-date temperature was the eighth warmest in the 126-year record.
While May 2020 precipitation deficits drew parts of the West deeper into drought, parts of the Upper Midwest, Ohio Valley, and the Southeast got soaked.
As the region’s dry summer approaches, precipitation deficits pose a threat to livestock operators, farmers, and fish, and heighten the risk of wildfires.
Most of the United States was warmer than average. Wet conditions in March eased drought concerns in Southern California, but extreme dryness around the Gulf Coast raised the chances of drought there.
Much of the Southeast experienced extremely wet conditions last month, while almost all of California and parts of Oregon and Nevada were either much drier than average or record dry.
Although exact temperatures varied by latitude and elevation, January 2020 temperatures were above average for nearly every U.S. climate division of the Lower 48 states.
