August 2026 was the joint-hottest month ever recorded globally, with temperatures exceeding the critical 1.5C threshold for the first time since November 2025, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said Thursday.
The global average surface air temperature reached 16.96C, or 0.85C above the 1991–2020 average, according to data from the ERA5 dataset.
The month was 1.65C warmer than the estimated 1850–1900 pre-industrial average and tied with July 2023 as the hottest month recorded across all calendar months.
The June-August period was also the joint-warmest globally, matching the record set in 2024.
“August 2026 was a remarkable month in the global climate record,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
“It was both the warmest August and the warmest month ever recorded, with global temperatures reaching 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels, marking the return of global temperatures above 1.5°C,” she added.
The average sea surface temperature across extra-polar oceans reached 21.07C, the highest seen for August and equal to the record for all months set in March 2024.
Copernicus said exceptionally high temperatures persisted across much of the tropical Pacific as a potentially extreme El Nino event continued to intensify. Record August sea temperatures were also registered along Europe’s Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean.
Western Europe, meanwhile, experienced its hottest summer on record, surpassing the previous record set in 2003. Europe as a whole recorded its third-warmest summer, behind 2024 and 2022.
Persistent heat and below-average rainfall contributed to widespread drought and wildfires, with severe drought conditions reported in France, the UK, Hungary, Romania and Serbia.
River flows were also exceptionally low across large parts of Europe, including along the Rhine, Danube, Southern Bug and Dnieper rivers.
Arctic sea ice extent ranked as the 12th-lowest recorded for August, while Antarctic sea ice extent was the fourth-lowest.
