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May Smashes Temperature Records In U.S.

Record heat returned to the United States with a vengeance in May. May warmed to a record average 65.4 degrees in the Lower 48 states, breaking the high of 64.7 set in 1934, according to federal weather figures released Wednesday. May was 5.2 degrees above the 20th century’s average for the month. Weather stations in the nation broke or tied nearly 8,600 daily heat records in May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported. It hit 100 in Minneapolis on May 28, the earliest the city has seen triple digits. “The warmth was coast-to-coast,” said climate scientist Jake Crouch at NOAA’s Centers for Environmental Information.

Cool May Breaks San Diego’s Long Warm Spell

San Diego’s warm spell is broken. When the clock struck midnight on Thursday, a 54-month run without a cooler-than-normal month ended. The last time a month was cooler than normal in town was October 2013 — 4½ years ago. It was a remarkable, rare run of warmth. There have been other extended warm spells in the city’s past, most notably in the early 1980s, but none were quite like the one that just ended. What caused the extended warm spell, and what does it mean?

Southwest Drought Worsens As Hot June Weather Arrives

June is here and the heat is on across many areas of the southern U.S., including the Four Corner states. Despite some recent precipitation, which helped lower drought numbers in some counties, overall conditions continue to intensify and expand. Rivers and watering holes across different areas of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico are drying up, forcing the closure of popular mountain recreation areas. Water restrictions are becoming the norm across the region.

Forecast For California: More Frequent Wild Weather Swings

Many people are attracted to large parts of California for their reliably pleasant Mediterranean climate. It can be a welcome break for visitors weary of Nor’easters and scorching summers. But in coming decades, California and the rest of the West Coast could see increasingly wild swings in weather – a consequence of continued climate change. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in Nature Climate Change by researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles, UC-Irvine, and The Nature Conservancy. T