"That's the only thing that saves us,"

But drought conditions last summer in the Southern Plains and Southwest alone resulted in an estimated $12 billion in losses, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

The 1956 drought brought serious economic repercussions, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notes in a report on historic weather conditions.

"Crop yields in some areas dropped as much as 50%," according to the agency. "Excessive temperatures and low rainfall scorched grasslands typically used for grazing. With grass scarce, hay prices became too costly, forcing some ranchers to feed their cattle a mixture of prickly pear cactus and molasses."

The current drought has forced disaster declarations in 26 states and a spate of emergency conservation orders, including in Warrenton, where the city ordered residents to stop watering their lawns, shut down commercial car washes and banned and just about every other non-essential use of water. That includes closing the city swimming pool amid one of the hottest summers on record.

"It's pretty sucky, to put it bluntly," said Dana Moore, who lives just a few blocks from the pool.

She's resorted to jumping in their very dirty car -- which they can't wash because of the restrictions -- to take her restless kids for a dip in other towns' water parks.

Her photography business is also suffering. She hasn't been out on a shoot in a couple of weeks, despite high demand for high school senior portraits. Nobody wants to be sweaty or sitting on crispy, brown grass in their photograph, she said.

On the bright side, Moore's getting to spend a lot of time on indoor craft projects with her kids during what she and her neighbors rate as the worst drought they can remember.

"But hey, we're all still living and it's not like we're starving," she said cheerfully. "We're making the best of it."

According to the report issued Monday, June was also the fourth-warmest June globally since record-keeping began in 1880, and marked the 328th consecutive month that global temperatures have remained above the 20th century average. The last time the average global temperature dipped below that average was February 1985, the agency said.