July joins 2012 trend in being the hottest yet

Base image by Flickr user anoldent
If you could photograph feelings, I suspect Beaufort would have looked like this in July.

2012 started off hot, and July has followed in step, besting the 20th century average by 3.3 degrees to be the hottest July yet, and the hottest of any month the U.S. has yet recorded. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted that the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 77.6 degrees, besting the previous warmest July in 1936 when the average temperature was 77.4 degrees.

The warm July temperatures contributed to a record-warm first seven months of the year and the warmest 12-month period the nation has experienced since record keeping began in 1895.

The trend carried through again in South Carolina, where we saw the third warmest month.

Top 10 S.C. July temperature anomalies
1st July 1993 +4.4°F
2nd July 1986 +4.2°F
3rd July 2011 +2.9°F
  July 2012 +2.9°F
5th July 1932 +2.7°F
6th July 1934 +2.5°F
7th July 1931 +2.4°F
  July 2010 +2.4°F
9th July 1977 +2.3°F
10th July 1998 +2.2°F
S.C. Ten warmest Jan-Jul periods (1895-2012)
1st Jan-Jul 2012 +2.7°F
2nd Jan-Jul 1990 +2.4°F
3rd Jan-Jul 1949 +2.3°F
4th Jan-Jul 1952 +2.2°F
  Jan-Jul 1932 +2.2°F
6th Jan-Jul 1953 +2.1°F
7th Jan-Jul 1974 +2.0°F
  Jan-Jul 1939 +2.0°F
  Jan-Jul 1911 +2.0°F
10th Jan-Jul 1913 +1.9°F
  Jan-Jul 1945 +1.9°F
  Jan-Jul 1925 +1.9°F

This weekend's forecast you ask? The same as what's being forecast for the rest of August in the U.S. and Southeast: hot.

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