August 2026 ties for hottest month on record

August 2026 was recorded as the joint-hottest month globally, with average temperatures reaching 1.65°C above preindustrial levels, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The month matched July 2023, which had previously held the record for the highest global monthly temperature. Global sea surface temperatures also reached their highest-ever level for August.

Scientists warned that the record heat was particularly concerning because the El Niño weather phenomenon has not yet reached its full strength. El Niño occurs naturally when changes in Pacific winds cause ocean temperatures to rise and release large amounts of heat into the atmosphere, often triggering extreme weather such as floods, droughts and heatwaves worldwide.

The current El Niño is expected to become strongest towards the end of 2026 and could potentially become one of the most intense on record.

Climate scientist Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said the developing El Niño was contributing to the rising temperatures, but she stressed that the main underlying cause remained human-driven climate change caused by the continued burning of coal, oil and gas.

She warned that climate change was making El Niño events increasingly hot and that record-breaking temperatures would continue unless fossil fuel use was significantly reduced, The Guardian reported.

The effects of the extreme August heat are continuing to be felt across many parts of the world. Severe wildfires, crop losses, heat-related deaths and disruptions to transport, businesses and public services have all been reported.

Scientists and officials also warned that reduced harvests could contribute to further increases in food prices as the effects begin to reach domestic markets and international imports.

UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the full economic and social costs of the summer’s extreme weather were still being assessed. He highlighted the deaths, economic losses and pressure placed on transport and healthcare systems, as well as the rising cost of essential food items.

Stiell argued that these impacts demonstrated the growing consequences of dependence on fossil fuels and called for governments to accelerate the transition to clean energy, protect forests and oceans, and strengthen societies against climate-related risks.

Although global temperatures exceeded the 1.5°C threshold associated with the Paris climate agreement, scientists clarified that a single month or even a single year above that level does not mean the Paris target has formally been breached.

The threshold refers to a long-term average that would need to remain above 1.5°C for several years. However, the UN has acknowledged that the world is currently experiencing an overshoot and has indicated that large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere may eventually be necessary to bring temperatures back down.

Copernicus data also showed unusually dry conditions across several regions during the summer. Western and central Europe, parts of Scandinavia and southeastern Europe experienced significantly drier conditions than normal.

Outside Europe, areas including the southern United States, northern Mexico, parts of Canada, the Maghreb, the Horn of Africa, Siberia, central Asia, China, South America, South Africa and northern Australia also recorded below-average rainfall.

Scientists are increasingly concerned that continued warming could raise the likelihood of climate tipping points. These could trigger major and potentially irreversible changes in systems such as the Arctic ice cap and the Amazon rainforest.

Ruth Fuller, a climate adviser at WWF UK, said the repeated breaking of temperature and weather records was increasing the danger of natural systems being pushed beyond points from which they may not recover.

Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, described August 2026 as an exceptional month in the global climate record. She noted that it was both the hottest August and the hottest month ever recorded, while global temperatures again moved above the 1.5°C level.

She also pointed to record sea surface temperatures and the exceptionally warm summer experienced in western Europe as further evidence that climate change is intensifying extreme conditions in both the atmosphere and oceans.

According to Burgess, the consequences of these changing climate conditions are becoming increasingly visible, affecting communities, economies and ecosystems around the world.