August 2026 Ties the Record for Earth’s Hottest Month Ever Recorded

August 2026 is now the official joint record holder for the hottest month in Earth’s recorded history. The average global air temperature was 16.96°C (62.5°F), nearly a full degree above the 1991-2020 average — itself a historically warm baseline. In fact, global air temperatures in August are thought to have been around 1.65°C (2.97°F) hotter than the pre-Industrial Revolution average.

Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were also remarkably high in August 2026. Average SSTs in extra-polar regions (60°S–60°N) reached 21.07°C (69.9°F) during August, making it the hottest August on record, surpassing the previous record of 20.98°C (69.8°F), set in 2023. This mark also tied the all-time record observed across all calendar months, set back in March 2024.

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Polar regions were not excluded from the effects of warming either. Sea ice was observed at extremely low levels near both poles. In the Arctic, sea ice extent in August was the 12th-lowest ever for that month, with regions in the Russian Arctic, such as those near the Franz Josef Archipelago, experiencing particularly low ice levels. Near the South Pole, Antarctic sea ice saw its fourth-lowest extent for any August in recorded history, thanks in part to particularly pronounced melting in the Amundsen Sea.

The record-breaking late-summer heat was perhaps most pronounced in Europe, where June and July had already brought some of the highest temperatures on record. Heat, coupled with low precipitation that persisted throughout the summer, caused drought conditions to continue across much of the continent, particularly in Western Europe. The region saw exceptionally low flows in major rivers such as the Danube and Rhine, while soil remained exceptionally dry.

The onslaught of heat waves and minimal precipitation seen through the summer in Europe fueled wildfires, particularly in the early summer months, which burned roughly 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) of forest — nearly double the long-term average. Additionally, glaciers in the Alps continued to deteriorate, causing all ski areas on the continent to close for a prolonged stretch — marking the first time in the modern era that all lift-accessed terrain in Europe has been unavailable to the public.

The causes of this unprecedented heating, both in the ocean and on land, can be attributed to two main factors, according to Copernicus. First, ongoing human-driven climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels and the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, is a major contributor to the hot August seen throughout the world — making the month just another data point in a broader upward trend.

The second factor, however, has little to do with human activity: the rise in temperatures during August — specifically in SSTs — can be attributed in part to what may be the strongest El Niño ever recorded. El Niño is a naturally occurring warming of ocean water in the tropical Pacific, largely unrelated to anthropogenic global warming, which occurs every two to seven years.

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Regardless of the causes of the record-breakingly hot August — and broader summer — of 2026, the consequences of such an anomalously warm month have been felt globally. As Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at ECMWF, put it: “These observations show how climate change is driving extremes across both the atmosphere and the oceans. The impacts of these conditions are increasingly being felt by communities, economies, and ecosystems across the world.”

Given the continued burning of fossil fuels and a still-strengthening El Niño, more record-breaking months are potentially in store. While the effects of an unprecedentedly warm summer have already been felt by many, the true long-term repercussion of prolonged air and surface temperatures in uncharted territory perhaps remain to be seen.