U.S. weather officials said Wednesday the average temperature across the contiguous 48 states in the country - excluding the geographically separate states of Alaska and Hawaii - was 25.3 degrees Celsius [77.6 degrees Fahrenheit] in July. That was slightly higher than the devastating Dust Bowl summer the country suffered through in 1936.

The government also said the country has had the warmest January-to-July period since it began keeping records in 1895, as well as the warmest 12-month period.

The U.S. said climate change is a factor. It said that in almost every month the recent surge in temperatures is topping the marks set during the Dust Bowl years.

Just as in the 1930s, U.S. farmlands have been scorched with the relentless heat, leaving crops withered. With relatively little rain, a majority of the country's land mass has been classified as being in a drought.