Hot and Dry July

From the National Climatic Data Center putting the weather of July 2006 in historical perspective:

The continental United States suffered through its second-hottest July on record because of a blistering heatwave from California to Washington, D.C. The heatwave broke more than 2,300 daily temperature records for the month and eclipsed more than 50 records for the highest temperatures in any July, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The hottest July on record occurred in 1936, and the third hottest was 1934.

1934 and 1936 were, incidentally, Dust Bowl years.

The agency also reported that:

the first seven months of 2006 was the warmest January-July of any year in the United States since records began in 1895. And the scorching temperatures, combined with a shortage of rainfall, expanded moderate-to-extreme drought conditions in areas already hard hit.

And:

In July, 51 percent of the United States, mostly in the Plains states and Southeast, was in moderate-to-extreme drought (based on the Palmer Drought Index), an increase of five percent from June. This percentage ranks with the biggest droughts of the last 50 years. The most extensive drought occurred in July 1934 when 80 percent of the country was affected by moderate-to-extreme drought.