Guest Author - LeeAnn

The year 2006 can officially say it's been a hot one. 2006 has now broken all records for the warmest six months on record and records have been kept in the United States since 1895.

Climate experts feel that global warming is contributing to the warmth.
Experts are predicting that August, and September will continue to be hot over most of the United States except for Hawaii which climate experts are predicting will have below average temperatures.

The United States is currently dealing with a heat wave and this is of course not unusual to see in the summertime in the United States. What is unusual though is to have six months as warm as we have had from January to June of this year.

Another contributing factor to the warmer months is because of the drought that has affected parts of the U.S. Climate experts say drier soil can lead to higher air temperatures.

Another contributing factor to the warmer than average weather is the jet stream's path. The usual pattern of the jet stream has it moving from west to east in a zigzag pattern and it brings down cool air from the north to the U.S. This year the jet stream instead looks like a straight line north of the Canadian border.