August 2026 Ties Record for Hottest Month Ever Measured on Earth

A Month for the History Books

August 2026 tied the record for the hottest month ever measured globally, matching a benchmark set during the powerful heat of July 2023. The global average surface air temperature reached 62.5 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. That single number carries staggering weight: it means the planet's combined land and ocean temperatures have now matched their all-time peak — not in the heart of summer, but in what is historically a cooler month.

August was also slightly warmer than July 2026, an unusual reversal because July is typically the planet's hottest month. Copernicus found only four other years since 1940 when August was warmer than July: 1945, 1951, 1955, and 1985. That kind of anomaly doesn't happen by accident. It signals something deeply abnormal about the state of the climate right now.

Two Forces Driving the Heat

The record was driven by a combination of long-term global warming from burning fossil fuels and rapidly rising ocean temperatures associated with a strengthening El Niño in the Pacific. Scientists are careful to note these two forces aren't equal partners. Copernicus's Samantha Burgess said El Niño generally adds only one or two tenths of a degree Celsius to the global temperature, with the overwhelming rest of the heat coming from the burning of fossil fuels.

The month saw the joint highest monthly average sea surface temperature ever recorded, and the highest daily global sea surface temperature ever recorded. Meanwhile, record high sea surface temperatures were seen across the tropical Pacific, an area where a potentially extreme El Niño event continues to intensify. This El Niño is forecast to break records for strength in the coming months — meaning the worst may still be ahead.

Records Falling Everywhere

August's average global temperature was 2.97 degrees Fahrenheit — or 1.65 degrees Celsius — above the estimated preindustrial average from 1850 to 1900. It was the first month to exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels since November 2025. That threshold is the same limit enshrined in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, though a single month above that threshold does not mean the world has formally crossed the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — that target refers to long-term averages, not individual months.

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for the first time, summer in the Lower 48 states was hotter than during the peak of the devastating Dust Bowl in 1936. June through August 2026 in the United States averaged 74.37 degrees, nearly four-tenths of a degree warmer than the mark set 90 years earlier. According to Copernicus data, the eight hottest months on record have all been from July 2023 on.

What Comes Next

August 2026 marks the first record-breaking month for global temperatures since January 2025. But rather than offering relief, scientists say it signals an acceleration. The fact that records are regularly getting broken, and that August and not July — which is traditionally warmer — set an all-time record, are signs that human-caused climate change is accelerating, according to Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather.

The intensifying super El Niño, combined with global warming, is favored to make 2026 the hottest year on record, with 2027 expected to be even hotter. As temperatures continue to rise, heat waves, storms, floods, and wildfires will get more frequent and more dangerous, said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe. The numbers from August aren't just a record — they're a warning about what the next several years could look like if the underlying drivers remain unchecked.