Through July, Nearly 130 U.S. Cities Remain on or near Record Warm Pace for 2017

Jon Erdman
Published: August 2,2017

The first seven months of 2017 were among the top-three warmest on record for over 130 U.S. cities from the East Coast to the Desert Southwest and Alaska, according to data compiled by the Southeast Regional Climate Center.
Three dozen of those locations from the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida to Nevada either tied or set a new record-warm first seven months of the year.
Among those record warm cities were Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami and Tampa.
(FORECAST: Early August Keeps Its Cool in the Central, Eastern U.S.)

Cities with a record or record-tying warm January-through-July period in 2017, among locations with a period of record dating at least to 1950.
(Data: SERCC)

Miami just punctuated the warmest start to the year with a warmest single month on record in July.
Austin's Camp Mabry shattered its previous hottest January-through-July, set during 2011 – a year of crippling drought in the Lone Star State.
Las Vegas has now had its four hottest January-through-July periods the past four years, topped by 2017.
For this article, only locations with a period of record at least to 1950 were considered.
Another 99 cities have had the second- or third-warmest first seven months of a year, including Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, New Orleans, Nashville, Columbus, Ohio, San Antonio and Tucson, Arizona.
(MORE: Only 5 Percent Chance of Avoiding 'Tipping Point' by 2100)

Cities with either a second- or third-warmest January-through-July period in 2017, among locations with a period of record dating at least to 1950. Not shown on this map was Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska.
(Data: SERCC)

Only the nation's record-warmest year – 2012 – started warmer than 2017 in Albuquerque, Atlanta, Cleveland, Nashville, St. Louis and Washington D.C.
Even the nation's northernmost town, Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly known as Barrow) had its second-warmest January-through-July, topped only by 2016.
Pockets of the Pacific Northwest, searing in a sharp heat wave this week, have been near or slightly cooler than average in the U.S. over the first seven months.
(MORE: Pacific Northwest the Nation's Most Extreme Weather Region in 2017)
The largest above-average temperature departures have stretched from the mid-Atlantic states to Utah, Arizona and Nevada, according to analysis from NOAA/ESRL.
(MORE: August Temperature Outlook)

January-through-July 2017 temperature departures from average, in degrees Celsius, showing virtually the entire Lower 48 with warmer-than-average temperatures.

The nation's first six months of 2017 was the second warmest January-through-June period on record, according to NOAA.
NOAA's data says the three warmest years in the U.S. – 2012, 2016 and 2015 – have all taken place within the last five years.
Data from July will be released Aug. 8 in NOAA's State of the Climate Report.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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