While the U.S. was smashing heat marks last year, the world as a whole barely slipped into the top 10 hottest years on record, two American science agencies said Tuesday.
This probably comes as no surprise: Federal scientists say July was the hottest month ever recorded in the lower 48 states, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

This probably comes as no surprise: Federal scientists say July was the hottest month ever recorded in the Lower 48 states, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl era in the 1930s.
The California Supreme Court on Monday tossed out the death sentence of a man convicted of murdering rock guitarist Dave Navarro's mother and her friend nearly 30 years ago — a ruling that could affect the cases of Scott Peterson and other death-row inmates.
It has been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records were not just broken, they were deep-fried.
It has been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records were not just broken, they were deep-fried.
It's been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records weren't just broken, they were deep-fried.

It has been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records were not just broken, they were deep-fried.
The world last year wasn't quite as warm as it has been for most of the past decade, government scientists said Thursday, but it continues a general trend of rising temperatures.