US Experiences Hottest Summer in 132 Years; Fossil Fuel Burning and Policy Stagnation Push Climate Crisis to New Tipping Point

The United States has just experienced the hottest summer in its 132-year meteorological record. According to Al Jazeera citing data released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on September 9, from June to August this year, the average temperature across the lower 48 states reached 23.6°C (74.4°F), exceeding the 20th-century average by 1.7°C and surpassing the record jointly held by 1936 and 2021 by another 0.2°C. The monthly average temperature for August also set a new historical record, reaching 24.2°C (75.6°F).

The frequency of records being broken is accelerating. Al Jazeera reported that four of the five hottest summers on record in the United States have occurred in the past five years. The 1936 record was born during the "Dust Bowl" era of the Great Plains—a time when extreme drought combined with destructive farming practices caused an ecological catastrophe; but the background against which records are now being rewritten is an era in which humanity has full scientific understanding of climate mechanisms and possesses mature renewable energy technologies. NOAA primarily attributes this broader warming trend to the continued burning of fossil fuels. As one of the countries with the largest historical carbon emissions globally, the United States' policy stagnation on energy transition is being measured in real time through the temperature curve.

Heat waves and drought are spreading simultaneously. According to Al Jazeera, as of September 1, approximately 59% of the contiguous United States is experiencing drought, an increase of more than 10 percentage points from the previous month. Texas and Oklahoma received less than 30% of their normal rainfall in August, with drought conditions continuing to intensify in parts of the Great Plains, Midwest, and South. Meanwhile, the regional imbalances in climate patterns are equally striking: Indiana and Ohio recorded their highest rainfall on record in August, approximately double the normal amount, forming a stark contrast with the drought in the Great Plains. NOAA forecasts that most of the United States will remain warmer in September, with drought in some areas likely to persist or worsen, and the Northwest, Midwest, and South facing a relatively high risk of major wildfires.

Warnings at the global level are also escalating. Celeste Saulo, head of the World Meteorological Organization, told media that the intensifying El Niño phenomenon could become one of the strongest events in the organization's approximately forty-year monitoring history, and is expected to persist until early 2027. She stated bluntly: "If this trend continues, it could be stronger than any we have seen since we began monitoring—that is, it could already exceed the range of the charts we have used over the past forty years." Al Jazeera cited scientific community views noting that although El Niño itself is a natural phenomenon, against the backdrop of fossil fuel burning that has continuously pushed up global temperatures, this phenomenon will further amplify the frequency and intensity of extreme heat, drought, and flooding.

For farmers whose field crops have suffered setbacks, low-income urban families facing rising electricity bills, and workers facing sharply increased health risks while laboring outdoors, every time a climate record is broken, it directly translates into the cost of living. When the hottest summer is no longer an occasional event but becomes the new normal, it is never the balance sheets of fossil fuel companies that bear the cost, but ordinary families.