Contiguous US breaks its record for hottest month ever, NOAA says

KENSINGTON, Maryland (AP) — The contiguous United States set a record for its hottest month ever in July, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Last month averaged 76.89 degrees Fahrenheit (24.94 degrees Celsius) across the Lower 48 states, eclipsing the Dust Bowl’s July 1936 by an eighth of a degree.

Although it was unusually cool in Alaska, hotter than normal conditions blanketed the Lower 48, with the most excessive heat in the Mountain West, Southwest, Northern Plains and Southeast.

The biggest driver of the heat was at night. Nighttime lows, which are crucial for people and agriculture to recover from hot days, smashed the old record for hottest minimums by 0.7 degrees, NOAA said. Hotter nights are a classic sign of human-caused climate change, according to scientists.

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

FILE - Dean Malcom drinks water while wiring street lights in extremely hot weather July 14, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

FILE - Simone Mosley waits for their ride in shade at a bus stop during an extreme heat warning July 13, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt, File)

FILE - Daniel Aragonez leaves a cooling center in Los Angeles, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

FILE - Ruth, 11, from Burke, Va., gets cold water poured on her head to cool off at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, July 2, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - Mickelina Papotto, of Salem, Ore., left, and Lorie Odegaard, of Gaithersburg, Md., fan themselves while waiting in line for the ferris wheel at the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, July 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Madison Hermes, 11, carries a doll as she cools off with water fountains on a hot summer day in downtown Dallas, Monday, July 27, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

People watch the setting sun at the end of a hot summer day, Sunday, July 26, 2026, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people and damaging hundreds of buildings, President Abelardo de la Espriella said.

The president declared an emergency, which will expedite funding for the quake recovery, and said he would visit the disaster zone, centered round the rural region of Choco.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 79 people, trapping residents under debris of collapsed buildings and forcing people to evacuate their homes as far as the capital of Bogotá.

The epicenter was in San Jose Del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in the Choco region about 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, the U.S. Geological Survey and Colombia’s counterpart reported. The USGS said it struck at a depth of 66 miles (107 kilometers). The quake also was felt in neighboring Ecuador and Panama, though minimal damage was reported there.

Local officials confirmed that at least 40 people were killed in the Risaralda region, where the hard-hit city of Pereira is located, and 27 people in the Valle del Cauca region, where Colombia's third-biggest city, Cali, is located. At least three of those killed in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor said.

Authorities also confirmed nine people were killed in Choco, two more in the Caldas region and a 73-year-old in the Antioquia region. Many more people across the country were injured.

The quake left cities across the west of the country — Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales — ravaged. Residents and search teams picked through the rubble of collapsed buildings amid concerns by authorities of aftershocks. Colombia's interior minister said more than 20 municipalities across the country had been hit.

Colombia’s Pacific region around the quake's epicenter lies along the “Ring of Fire”, the line of seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. The Pacific, particularly the Choco region, is one of the poorest regions in the country. Nestled in the dense jungle, much of Choco is highly rural and only reachable by boat or plane, which may pose a problem for authorities in assessing the wider toll.

Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, said he saw plumes of dust shoot up across the city as buildings collapsed. Residents and rescue workers were searching the rubble for survivors.

“My entire house shook. I've never lived through such a powerful earthquake,” he said. “We're thanking God we're alive.”

Colombia's Geological Service said Monday that it had been “the highest magnitude earthquake registered in Colombia in the last decade” and that it had been followed by two 2.8 and 4.8 magnitude aftershocks. Authorities also reported that flights were suspended in the airports of Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura and Pereira.

The earthquakes left many in the Andean nation unnerved after two back-to-back quakes devastated neighboring Venezuela in late June, destroyed hundreds of buildings and killed more than 5,000 people. At the same time the quake brought down buildings in Colombia, desperate families in Venezuela continued to search the ruins for the bodies of their loved ones.

In Pereira, photos and videos published by local media showed pieces of the airport ceiling falling down on travelers taking shelter and screaming, and people running through rubble in a panic.

Pereira's mayor, Mauricio Salazar, told a local radio station that at least 18 people had died and that many more were trapped under “a massive quantity of collapsed buildings.”

In nearby Manizales, a city in the coffee-producing mountains of Colombia, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed and fell on the nave. Jorge Eduardo Rojas, the mayor of Manizales, asked residents to stay outside in case of aftershocks.

Authorities in the rural state of Choco, the epicenter of the quake, reported injured people and damaged buildings in the capital, but provided few details.

In Cali, a city of 2 million people, Mayor Alejandro Eder said that residents were trapped in at least 19 buildings that had collapsed.

Small earthquakes, known as “temblores,” are common in central and western Colombia, but those above 6.0 magnitude are rare. In 1999, a 6.2 magnitude quake near the city of Armenia killed more than 1,100 people.

Colombia’s newly inaugurated President Abelardo de la Espriella said Monday that he had personally taken charge of the government’s response to the emergency in San José del Palmar following the earthquake.

“You are not alone. The state is present and taking action,” he said.

Response to the earthquake presents the first major challenge to de la Espriella, a Trump ally who was sworn in as president over the weekend.

Messages of support rolled in from leaders across the Americas, including Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and the United States.

“The Trump administration is closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on X.

A number of countries offered aid, and the U.N. deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said “we stand ready to help as needed.”

——

Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed.

Patients are evacuated from a hospital after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Residents stand outside the Cathedral of Manizales after it was damaged by an earthquake in Manizales, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026.(AP Photo/John Jairo Bonilla)

Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Residents and rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Government workers stand outside their office buildings in Panama City, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, after feeling an earthquake with an epicenter in neighboring Colombia. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

People leave their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A man leaves an apartment building after an earthquake struck Cali, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Government workers stand outside their office buildings in Panama City, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, after feeling an earthquake with an epicenter in neighboring Colombia. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

People stand outside their homes after a quake was felt in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/John Wilson Vizcaino)