A global average of 16.96°C places the month alongside July 2023 at the top of the historical record.
BONN, GERMANY
August 2026 was the warmest August ever recorded and tied July 2023 as the hottest month across the entire observational record, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. The global average surface-air temperature reached 16.96°C, approximately 0.85°C above the 1991–2020 average.
Temperatures were also 1.65°C above the estimated pre-industrial level. This marked the first month since November 2025 to exceed the 1.5°C threshold. A single month above that level does not mean the Paris Agreement limit has formally been breached, because the target refers to sustained warming measured over decades rather than an isolated monthly average.
Human-generated greenhouse-gas emissions remain the principal cause of the long-term increase, while a developing El Niño amplified temperatures during the northern hemisphere summer. Average sea-surface temperatures outside the polar regions also reached record levels, increasing the amount of heat and moisture available to weather systems.
The exceptional warmth coincided with wildfires across Europe and Asia, drought in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, and deadly flooding and landslides in Nepal and Tibet. Western Europe completed one of its hottest summers, with reduced river flows, dry agricultural soils and growing pressure on water and energy systems.
The significance of the record lies not only in one unusually hot month, but in how frequently exceptional temperatures are now occurring. Heat increasingly affects food production, public health, infrastructure, insurance costs and migration, turning climate change from a distant environmental concern into an immediate economic and security challenge.
A record month is temporary, but the warming trend behind it is not.