"For most Americans, summer 2011 has been, in a word, hot. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the June-to-August period was the second-hottest summer on record, with an average temperature across the continental U.S. of 74.5 degrees. That is just 0.1 degrees cooler than the actual hottest summer on record, back in 1936 when the average temperature was 74.6 degrees.

Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana played a big hand in pushing the national average up. Each of these states recorded their hottest summers ever. The average summer temperature in Texas was 86.8 degrees. In Oklahoma, the average was 86.5 degrees.

Those numbers didn't just set state records, they set national records."