Buffalo, NY (WBEN) -- The National Weather Service says the four months from May through August this year were Buffalo's warmest, and third driest, since they began keeping the records in 1871.

The temperature averaged 69.8 degrees -- nearly a degree warmer than the previous record holder, May through August 1991 (69.1 degrees).

The official "summer" statistics were impressive, but not record-setting. It was the inclusion of a very warm, very dry May that put this record over the top.

The summer seasonal stats for Buffalo -- for June, July and August -- list this year as the 5th warmest (71.8 degrees) and the 8th driest (4.79 inches).

The records only back up what any Western New Yorker knows: it was a hot and dry summer. As National Weather Service meteorologist David Thomas noted: "A dry stretch later in June and into July turned lawns brown, and local gardens and fields of crops withered in the early summer heat."