July was the hottest month in 132 years of US records
NOAA put the mainland US July average at 76.9 degrees, edging the 1936 record, with more heat forecast for the central and southern states in August.
NOAA reported on August 11, 2026 that the mainland US averaged 76.9 degrees Fahrenheit in July, about a tenth of a degree above the 1936 record, across 132 years of tracking. A heat dome sat over the July 4 period and heat warnings swept the country later in the month. The outlook gives the central and southern US better than even odds of above-average August temperatures, with coastal California and the southern Plains specifically flagged. Swiss Re separately warned about chronic rather than acute heat risk. Severe thunderstorms across the Midwest triggered flood warnings the same day.
Why it matters
Heat is a labor cost and a compliance cost before it is a demand driver. Crew productivity falls, OSHA attention rises, and the heat National Emphasis Program is still the enforcement vehicle while the federal standard sits in rulemaking. The demand side is real but indirect: heat drives HVAC failures, condensation and IAQ complaints, and the same pattern that produced this record is producing the Midwest flood warnings.
The read
A record that beats 1936 by a tenth of a degree does not change your Monday. What changes it is that your crews lose hours in the afternoon and an inspector has a national emphasis program pointed at exactly that. Move the heavy work to early starts, put the heat plan in writing, and quote the afternoon at what it actually costs you.
How we got here
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- 6 earlier stories on this storyline
- A quieter hurricane forecast, but the risk is where the storm lands, not how many form
- Convective and wet: EF3 tornado in Wisconsin, deadly flash floods in West Virginia
- The LA smoke fight just got its science: lead riding the plume into standing homes
- Munich Re: $112B in disaster losses, and 60 cents of every dollar was uninsured
- Edison now says its equipment "likely" started the Eaton Fire
- Severe weather is on top of the Ohio Valley today, with 75 mph gusts in the outlook
- July was the hottest month in 132 years of US records You are here
Read next
Sources Claims Journal, www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2026/08/… (published ) and Insurance Journal, www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/… (published ) for the Swiss Re chronic-heat warning. Two outlets, one underlying temperature record.
Trade press reporting NOAA data, plus a reinsurer risk note. High confidence