More global extremes in July

July 2026 will be remembered as another month of wild weather extremes across the United States and around the world. During the month, record-breaking heat was observed along with destructive flooding, severe thunderstorms, wildfires, drought, and unusually warm oceans, thanks to the evolving new El Nino.

In the United States, one of the most notable statistics was the average temperature across the contiguous 48 states. According to NOAA, July 2026 was the hottest July on record with an average reading of 76.9 degrees. The temperature was 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th Century average and surpassed the previous record established during the Dust Bowl era in 1936 by 8-tenths of a degree.

Temperatures were especially extreme across the western and southern United States. Large heat domes sent highs to 109 degrees at Salt Lake City, Utah, and 111 degrees at Billings, Mont., last month. It was also the warmest month in Wyoming in recorded history. Death Valley, Calif., once again experienced some of the nation’s highest temperatures, with highs around 120 degrees Fahrenheit. However, that is still lower than the official hottest Earth temperature of 134.1 degrees reported at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913.

By contrast, not all places experienced extreme heat. For example, NOAA shows that Alaska reported its coolest average temperature in July since 2008.

While much of the Northern Hemisphere continues to swelter through summer, Antarctica in the Southern Hemisphere was firmly in winter’s grip. Temperatures on the ice-covered continent recently plummeted to -119.4 degrees Fahrenheit, the lowest temperature recorded on Earth since 2012. Located at Concordia, a remote, high-elevation research station atop a 10,800-foot-thick ice cap in the Antarctic interior, the frigid reading was logged twice July 18, once at 6:25 a.m. and again at 6:34 a.m., according to Live Science.

Temperatures on the high interior plateau in Antarctica routinely drop below -85 degrees Fahrenheit during their winter season. The all-time global record air temperature low of -128.6 degrees Fahrenheit was measured at Vostok Station on July 21, 1983.

In the Northern Hemisphere, in addition to the western heat and drought, other parts of the United States have experienced devastating rainfall and flooding. Over the last month, parts of the Midwest and northeastern portions of the country have reported record rainfall and flash flooding. About 27 inches of rain resulted in catastrophic flash floods in Texas Hill Country and Central Texas, centered primarily along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County on July 4.  

Severe flooding and high-water impacts also extended across regions near those counties. Last month, the Paducah, Ky., National Weather Service office issued about 145 combined severe-thunderstorm, tornado, and flash-flood warnings, making it the office’s second-highest July total on record.

The collisions between widely opposing air masses also had some notable effects in July as severe weather broke out across the eastern portions of the Midwest and the eastern portions of the country. One of the more notable tornado episodes occurred July 21, when supercell thunderstorms developed over the upper Ohio River Valley and moved eastward across the Appalachians. The National Weather Service confirmed the development of five tornadoes across eastern West Virginia and northwestern Virginia. Two of them occurred in Pendleton County, W.Va., where tornadoes had not been observed since 1998.

Hot temperatures, low humidity, drought, and dry vegetation created conditions for rapid wildfire growth across portions of the western United States. Smoke from large fires, including ones in Canada, also spread across broad areas, producing periods of unhealthy air quality far from the original fire zones. The combination of heat and wildfire smoke created an additional health concern for vulnerable populations, especially in the northern U.S. and Canada.

In other parts of the world, extreme heat was reported across Spain, France, Portugal and other nearby locations resulting in some of the worst wildfires the region has experienced. On July 8, the mercury hit 105 degrees at one station in Barcelona, Spain, which is the highest reading ever recorded. It was the driest July in England and Wales as only 10% of rain was reported last month. By contrast, severe flooding along with impacts from tropical cyclones caused over $8.5 billion in economic losses in China, especially in the eastern zones.

Here in the Inland Northwest, no measurable moisture was reported at the Spokane International Airport and other locations across eastern Washington in July. In North Idaho, only 0.01 inches of rain fell at Cliff Harris’s station with other locations averaging less than .10 inches last month.

Unless there is an afternoon or evening thunderstorm that produces large amounts of rainfall, moisture totals for August across the Inland Northwest are expected to once again be much below normal.

Eventually, moisture from the Pacific is expected to move into the region and bring some relief to the current drought situation, but not likely until later in September or October.

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Contact Randy Mann at [email protected].