The first half of the year was the warmest on record for the USA

USA TODAY
The Associated Press
The first half of the year was the warmest on record for the USA

The government reported Friday that the average temperature for the 48 contiguous United States from January through June was 51.8°F, or 3.4°F above average for the 20th century.

That made it the warmest such period since recordkeeping began in 1895, the National Climatic Data Center reported.

No state was cooler than average and five states — Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri — experienced record warmth for the period.

While much of the Northeast experienced extreme rainfall and flooding at the end of June, many other areas continued below normal precipitation.

As of June, 45% of the contiguous U.S. was in moderate-to-extreme drought, an increase of 6% from May.

Dry conditions spawned more than 50,000 wildfires, burning more than 3 million acres in the continental USA, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Worldwide, it was the sixth-warmest year-to-date since record keeping began in 1880.

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