Southern California may have felt like one giant oven this summer, and according to NOAA, that wasn’t merely your imagination. The agency’s latest climate report found that June through August 2026 was the hottest meteorological summer on record across the contiguous United States, beating the previous record, set in 1936 and tied in 2021, by 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit. The average summer temperature reached 74.4°F—3.0°F above the 20th-century average. August was even more remarkable. View this post on Instagram NOAA recorded an average temperature of 75.6°F across the contiguous U.S., making it the hottest August on record. Average daytime highs also set a record at 88.6°F. “Both August and summer were the warmest in the 132-year record,” NOAA reported. California was among the states feeling the heat most intensely.…