September 1 marks the first day of meteorological fall for the National Weather Service, which is looking back at the summer season and finding the hottest average temperatures in over 100 years of data collection.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday announced June through August as the hottest average temperature on record for the United States at 74.4 degrees.
Billings meteorologist William McKeown-Robie says Montana experienced both cooler-than-average and hotter-than-average temperatures this summer, which boils down to a more typical average temperature.
“It’s never really one thing in Montana. It’s a combination of all the really extreme weather we see here” McKeown-Robie said.
Montana’s summer season was 2.4 degrees above normal and 16th warmest overall, with cooler-than-normal temperatures in the central part of the state in June, a hot July throughout and a mix of above-average warmth and near-normal temperatures in August.
According to statewide rankings from NOAA, this July was the fourth warmest for Montana and the warmest recorded ever in Wyoming.
