After one of the hottest Julys in history, August is looking like a clone.Although no daily records were broken last month, the persistent day-and-night heat pushed the average daily temperature at the Akron-Canton Airport to 76.8 degrees — five degrees above normal and the fifth-hottest for more than 120 years of record-keeping, according to the National Weather Service.Looking ahead, August is appearing much the same. The first day of the month was 5.5 degrees above normal and the weather service forecast is for daily highs into the 80s and lows dipping only to the upper 60s.How do we compare?The National Climatic Data Center reports that through June — the latest month available — world temperatures ranked 11th warmest on record.July showed no relief nationwide, with many cities breaking daily records and for days above 100 degrees.Average temperatures in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore broke records. Chicago had its third hottest July. Topeka, Kan., may have scored its hottest month ever — for any month, according to preliminary data.Closer to home, Cleveland posted temperatures that were third warmest, and Toledo was second warmest.Adding to the heat misery has been the rain.At Akron-Canton, 6.8 inches of rain fell during the month, or 2.78 inches above normal. That was about a half-inch short of making the top 10 rainiest Julys.All of this is affecting pocketbooks — and outdoor comfort.The weather service has created a measure that helps quantify variations in fuel demand for cooling purposes, called cooling degree days. The weather service calculates the average temperature for a day, and the difference between the average and 65 degrees becomes the degrees cooling for the day. A series of hot days can rack up the cooling degrees — and energy costs.So far this year, Akron-Canton stands at 373 cooling degrees, or 38 percent above normal.FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin advises that for each degree cooler you set the thermostat there could be a 3 percent increase in electric bills.Using a fan to promote air circulation could be much more efficient than “cranking the air conditioning,” he said.The rain also has led to nuisance mosquitoes, said Terry Tuttle, environmental health supervisor for the Summit County Health Department.“It’s pretty bad,” said Tuttle, adding that the department is getting a lot of complaints from areas that were hard hit by the heavy rains of July, including West Akron, Coventry and Copley townships and Green.“The good news is with the flood, these mosquitoes that hatched out from the flood are not mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus, but are strictly nuisance mosquitoes,” he said.The department is actively spraying for mosquitoes, he said.Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or at jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.