July heat sets new record in US

There’s a quickly expanding drought across the central United States, and no wonder.  A July heat wave wilted crops, dried up rivers and fuelled wildfires.  Now it goes into the records as the hottest single month the continental US has ever had, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.  The average temperature was 77.6 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.3 degrees above the 20th century average, said NOAA.  That pushed out the previous high mark set in 1936 by two-tenths of a degree.  NOAA says 2012 is turning out to be the hottest of any year on record.  Every state except Washington has faced hotter-than-average temperatures.

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