- Every state in the United States has a maximum temperature that never drops below 100 degrees.
- Most of the state's temperature records were set from late June through August.
- Washington, Oregon and Utah broke or tied their all-time records in the summer of 2021.
Extreme summer heat is no stranger to the United States, with all 50 states recording high temperatures of at least 100 degrees, with many exceeding 115 degrees.
We've compiled the highest temperature on record for each state, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the results are shown on the map above.
July and August are typically some of the hottest months in many areas of the United States, and it's also the time when the majority of states hit all-time record highs. Several states set or tied their records in June. Alabama and Hawaii are outliers as their records were set in September and April, respectively.
Washington is the latest state to break its all-time record when it reached 120 degrees in Hanford on June 29, 2021. Oregon (119 degrees on June 29, 2021) and Utah (117 degrees on July 10, 2021) also recently tied all-time record highs.
Not surprisingly, the highest temperatures in the United States are recorded in the desert Southwest. In fact, the highest temperature recorded in California, 134 degrees, is also the highest air temperature currently recorded on Earth and was measured in Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913.
Most of the Plains states, which can also be an area of extreme heat and large temperature variations, recorded temperatures over 120 degrees. A high temperature of 121 degrees was measured as far north as Steele, North Dakota, on July 6, 1936, and several records were set on the Plains in 1936, during Peak Dust. For example, Oklahoma reached its record high of 120 degrees four times and in three different locations in the summer of 1936.
The Midwest has several states that recorded temperatures over 115 degrees. For example, there are two record-holding locations of 118 in Missouri, and both occurred on the same day, July 14, 1954.
Record temperatures in the Northeast and South are not as hot as they are in the West, but there are still some notable records. Maryland's 109-degree record was first set on July 3, 1898, at Butcherville, but has since been tied five times at three locations. One fairly recent record set in the South was in Columbia, South Carolina, on June 29, 2012, when the mercury rose to 113.
Also of interest is that Alaska and Hawaii share the same record high temperature of 100 degrees. The Alaska record was set at Fort Yukon on June 27, 1915, and the Hawaiian record was set on April 27, 1931, near Pahala on the Big Island.
The Weather Company's primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment, and the importance of science in our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
