While most Mississippi residents know it gets hot in the summertime, one city outbakes all of the others in the Magnolia State.

You might think the hottest city in Mississippi is in the southern part of the state. Think again.

With more than 90 days of sweltering temperatures above 90 degrees and an average summer lows at 69 degrees and average summer highs at 93,4 degreed Hernando — in the northwestern corner of the state — is the hottest city in the state, according to the latest data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

With summer just a few months away, and the U.S. increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates, Americans are gearing up for the possibility of a more normal summer season. But while residents in the northern U.S. typically enjoy comfortably warm temperatures, Americans in other parts of the country increasingly face months of extreme heat and other severe weather events. According to data from NOAA, some U.S. cities experience nearly 200 days per year with temperatures of 90℉ or higher, a number that’s rising.

Many parts of the U.S. with already high summer temperatures are seeing their temperatures climb even higher as the Earth’s temperatures warm. In every year since 1977, global average temperatures have been higher than the 20th-century global temperature average. And the difference from the average 20th-century temperature has been steadily climbing.

In 2020, the global temperature average was 1.6℃ higher (2.84℉) than the average temperature from the last century, making it the warmest year on record (tied with year 2016). The impacts of global climate change are already occurring in the form of sea ice depletion, faster rise in sea levels, and more intense heat waves. Scientists predict that global temperatures will continue to increase, although not uniformly, and much of the western and central parts of the U.S. will be subject to more frequent and extreme summer heat waves.

As the Earth warms overall, such high temperature extremes are becoming increasingly common. In 2020, 49% of the U.S. had maximum temperatures much above normal—that is, nearly half of the country had high temperatures in the upper 10th percentile of the local historical record. At the same time, cold temperature extremes have become less common. For example, in 2020, no part of the U.S. recorded low temperatures in the bottom 10th percentile.

At the state level, some states have had more marked increases in their average temperatures than others. Comparing data from the past year to the historical record, Rhode Island experienced the greatest average temperature increase, 3.6℉, from the 20th century average temperature. Other states with similar increases include Maine, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey. Only two states, Arkansas and Oklahoma, actually recorded slightly lower average temperatures than last century’s average, -0.2℉ and -0.1℉ lower, respectively.

To find the hottest city in every state, researchers at Filterbuy analyzed the latest data from NOAA. Within each state, the researchers ranked cities according to the greatest long-term average number of days per year when the temperature is 90℉ or higher. Researchers also calculated the long-term average number of days per year when the temperature is 100℉ or higher, the long-term average high temperature during the summer months, and the average long-term low temperature during summer. Only cities with populations of 10,000 or greater were considered in the analysis.

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Filterbuy’s website: https://filterbuy.com/resources/hottest-city-in-each-state