August 2026 was the hottest, most humid month ever recorded

Last month was the hottest and most humid August ever recorded, with global average temperatures soaring to 1.65 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to analyses by climate scientists — the latest in a cascade of broken records driven by human-caused warming and a rapidly intensifying El Niño.

A Month Without Precedent

Climatologist Zeke Hausfather found that August 2026 was the warmest August in the ERA5 dataset, which tracks global climate back to 1940, beating the previous record set in August 2024 by about 0.14 degrees Celsius. Meteorologist Ben Noll, using the same dataset, reported that last month was also the planet's moistest month on record, with global precipitable water reaching 2.74 centimeters — higher than any level previously measured.gizmodo

During August, 17% of the planet experienced monthly precipitation in the top 10% of historical August totals, the largest such area recorded since 1940. The extreme moisture likely worsened weather disasters worldwide, including the flash flood that tore through Bright Angel Canyon in Grand Canyon National Park on August 29, killing at least two people and destroying nearly all footbridges spanning Bright Angel Creek.nps+2

El Niño Fuels the Fire

The records come as a building "super" El Niño threatens to push temperatures even higher. Reuters reported last week that the World Meteorological Organization expects the event to intensify further into 2027 and could become the strongest ever recorded. NOAA has put the odds of a record-shattering El Niño at nearly 70%, with tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures already about 2.4 degrees Celsius above normal and forecast to climb further.cnn+2

Hausfather estimates a 75% chance that 2026 will become the warmest year on record, while Noll expects moisture levels to "blast past previous records" well into 2027.gizmodo

Europe's Relentless Summer

The global heat wave has hit Europe with particular force. France recorded its hottest summer ever, with an average temperature of 24 degrees Celsius — 3.6 degrees above normal, according to Météo-France. The heat has persisted into September: on September 4, Durban-Corbières in southern France reached 40.8 degrees Celsius, and on September 6, Lavaur in the Tarn department hit 40.3 degrees, setting a new national September record.aljazeera+3

Italy also recorded its hottest summer since 1950, with an average temperature of 24.3 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous record of 23.6 degrees set in 2003, according to Italy's National Research Council. NASA has linked the European heat to an estimated 10,000 excess deaths across the continent this summer.aa+1

"Large swaths of the planet will probably soon feel the effects of this trend firsthand, with odds favoring an unusually stormy and wet winter across much of the United States, Europe and eastern Asia," Noll wrote.gizmodo