California’s Record Heat Is Like Nothing You’ve Ever Seen... Yet
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If hot thermometers actually exploded like they do in cartoons, there would be a lot of mercury to clean up in California right now.
The California heat this year is like nothing ever seen, with records that go back to 1895. The chart below shows average year-to-date temperatures in the state from January through July for each year. The orange line shows the trend rising 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.