August tied for hottest month ever recorded globally

The contiguous United States experienced its hottest meteorological summer in 132 years of record-keeping, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Wednesday. The average temperature across the Lower 48 states from June through August 2026 was 74.4 degrees Fahrenheit, 3.0 degrees above the 20th-century average and 0.4 degrees higher than the previous record, set during the 1936 Dust Bowl and matched in 2021.usatoday+2

August alone was the warmest on record for the contiguous U.S., averaging 75.6 degrees Fahrenheit — 3.5 degrees above the 20th-century average for the month, with an average daytime high of 88.6 degrees.ncei.noaa+1

A Record-Breaking Month for the Planet

The domestic heat was part of a broader global pattern. The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported Thursday that August 2026 was the joint-warmest month ever recorded worldwide, tying with July 2023. The planet's average surface air temperature reached 16.96 degrees Celsius (62.53 degrees Fahrenheit), landing 1.65 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — well past the 1.5-degree threshold established in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.euronews+2

It was the first month since November 2025 to breach that threshold.abcnews+1

"August 2026 was a remarkable month in the global climate record. It was both the warmest August and the warmest month ever recorded," said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.npr+1

El Niño and a Warming World

Scientists attributed the extremes to a combination of long-term human-caused warming and a strengthening El Niño. Global sea surface temperatures reached an all-time daily high on August 22, surpassing a record set during the previous El Niño event in early 2024. Ocean temperatures also set a new monthly record for August, extending a streak of record-breaking marine warmth.thejournal+1

The heat was not confined to the United States. Spain recorded 61 days under heatwave conditions across the mainland and Balearic Islands in 2026, far surpassing the previous peak of 41 days in 2022, according to the national weather agency AEMET. The country also logged its hottest summer since records began in 1961, with an average temperature of 24.5 degrees Celsius. Western Europe as a whole experienced its warmest summer on record, surpassing 2003, with prolonged dry conditions fueling wildfires and disrupting water supplies across the continent.abcnews+2

"El Niño is adding heat to the system, but it is doing so on top of decades of human-driven warming," Burgess said.abcnews