July hottest month ever in US, 4th globally

From NOAA Climate Watch Magazine

According to the latest statistics from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, the average temperature for the contiguous United States during July was 77.6°F, which is 3.3°F above the 20th-century average. This marks the warmest July and–given that July is the typically the warmest month of the year—the warmest month on record for the nation.

 And from NOAA National Climatic Data Center

The globally-averaged temperature for July 2012 marked the fourth warmest July since record keeping began in 1880. July 2012 also marks the 36^th consecutive July and 329^th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20^th century average.