But, Uh, Global Warming... Heat Wave... Huh?

Just look at the obvious bias in this lede: "Folks who sweated through last month’s blistering heat wave may be surprised to know it was only the second hottest July on record for the United States."  The original two highest records were in 1936 and 1934.  The July of 2006 just slotted in between those two records.  Here's the rational explanation:

In July, 51 percent of the United States, mostly in the Plains states and Southeast, was in moderate-to-extreme drought. The most extensive drought occurred in July 1934 when 80 percent of the country was affected.

The drought of the mid-1930's in the United States was nick-named the Dust Bowl, hit Oklahoma particularly hard, started the Okie movement west, and was bleakly captured by John Steinbeck in The Grapes of Wrath.

It's taken as such a given that Global Warming is making every year noticeably hotter, but it just doesn't work that way.  Some months and some years will be warmer than others, but some will be cooler.  It just takes a much longer view and more data collection to find a trend.  But, in a story that would normally just be about a record almost being broken, the Global Warming religion has to be inserted.  Gaia's in trouble, see, see?  We have to do something!