Texas Sets Record for Hottest Summer in U.S. History

United States recorded the second hottest summer this year, and the hottest in 75 years, government weather experts said Thursday.

Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas set the record for the warmest summer in the U.S. The average summer temperature of Oklahoma and Texas was at 86.5 degrees F and 86.8 degrees F, respectively, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

The previous hottest summer statewide was recorded in Oklahoma, during 1934 at 85.2 degrees F.

According to weather officials, Texas finished the hottest summer on record, June through August.

As the result of the heat wave that swept the nation earlier this summer at least 22 people died, the National Weather Service reported.

The summer average temperature for 15 states ranked among their top 10 hottest, whereas 46 of the 48 states saw average to above-average temperatures. Washington and Oregon were the only two states below-average summer temperatures.

The figures are taken from the entire day, and not just averaging the highs of each day, which would make the figures much larger.

Oklahoma spends a lot of time at the top of these extreme heat lists because of its location in the interior of the country, said Gary McManus of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. While two of the top three hottest summers belonging to Oklahoma is nothing to sneeze at, I think this is one prize we're more than happy to let our neighbors from the south have.

For Texas, July was the hottest month ever recorded for that state, whereas for Oklahoma, July was the nation's highest monthly average temperature on record.

Texas is facing their worst drought in decades, leading to more than 21,000 wildfires throughout the Lone Star State, the Texas Forest Service told CNN. The drought has caused more than $5 billion to Texas's agricultural economy. Wildfire damages to homeowners could exceed $100 million dollars, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas told the news organization.

Texas had seen its driest summer on record, with a statewide average of 2.44 inches of rain whereas New Mexico had its second driest summer and Oklahoma its third driest summer. New Jersey and California had their wettest summers on record with 22.50 inches and 1.93 inches, respectively.