Summer 2012 Set Record High Temperatures

This June, July and August made for the third hottest summer period ever, the National Climatic Data Center reported this week.

And the first eight months of 2012 were the hottest ever recorded in the continental United States.

The three hotest summers on record were 1998, 2010 and 2012, according to a USA Today report.

The hot summer took a toll with extensive drought , route: {:controller=>"articles", :action=>"show", :id=>"midwest-drought-will-hike-lehigh-valley-food-prices"} -->over much of the United States - and intense