US has hottest year since 1895: scientists

The US has experienced the warmest 12 months since record-keeping began in 1895, scientists have announced.

A new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center found that the past 12 months have been the warmest on record for the mainland United States.

The report released yesterday said that the 12-month period from July 2011 to June 2012 was the warmest on record for the contiguous United States, with a nationally-averaged temperature of 56.0 degrees, 3.2 degrees higher than the long-term average.

According to the report, every single state in the contiguous US except for Washington saw warmer-than-average temperatures during this time period.

The average temperature for the US mainland in June was 71.2 degrees -- 2 degrees above the 20th-century average. It was the 14th warmest June on record. The period from January to June of this year also has been the warmest first half of a year on record for the US mainland.

The report comes as many US cities are struggling to overcome a 11-day heatwave that has claimed at least 46 lives. In the last half of June, 170 all-time temperature records were matched or smashed in cities across the lower 48 states, CNN reported. The US State Climate Extremes Committee also is reviewing whether 113-degree temperatures in South Carolina and 112-degree recordings in Georgia qualify as all-time records in those two states, it said.

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