Feverish Globe

Deep red across both Europe and the United States in these land surface temperature images says one thing: July was hot.

The measurements were made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite. Dark red shows areas where 2006 land surface temperatures were up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than recent years.

Air temperatures in many parts of the United States soared to or past 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands experienced their hottest July on record, reported the Associated Press and United Press International. Farmers on both sides of the Atlantic were facing major crop loss, and on both continents, power companies struggled to keep up with electricity demands.

--LiveScience Staff

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Credit: Jesse Allen, NASA