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Brussels – August 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded globally, tied with July 2023. According to Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) data, the average air temperature over land and ocean surfaces reached 16.96°C, 0.85°C above the 1991–2020 average and 1.65°C above the pre-industrial level (1850–1900). This is the first time since November 2025 that the monthly global average temperature has exceeded the 1.5°C threshold relative to pre-industrial levels. August 2026 thus surpasses the previous August records set in 2023 and 2024 and, together with July 2023, becomes the hottest month ever recorded in the dataset compiled by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
The exceptional heat did not affect the atmosphere alone. The average surface temperature of the extrapolar oceans (between 60°S and 60°N) reached 21.07°C, the highest August ever recorded, surpassing the previous record of 20.98°C set in 2023. Daily global sea surface temperature also set a record high of 21.11°C.
The record-breaking figures were also fuelled by exceptionally high temperatures in the tropical Pacific, where an El Niño event, potentially one of the strongest ever observed, continues to intensify. Its effects are already visible on land, too: in Indonesia, weather conditions have intensified seasonal wildfires.
Europe has experienced yet another summer marked by extreme heat. The summer of 2026 was the hottest ever recorded in Western Europe, breaking the previous record set in 2003, whilst across the continent as a whole it was the third hottest, after 2024 and 2022. August, with an average temperature of 20.26°C, was the fourth hottest August ever recorded in Europe.
A severe drought accompanied the high temperatures. Large areas of western, central and eastern Europe experienced drier-than-average conditions, with exceptionally low soil moisture levels following months of below-average rainfall. France, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania and Serbia experienced severe drought conditions.
The situation also affected rivers. The Rhine, Danube, Southern Bug and Dnieper reached exceptionally low flow rates, whilst particularly low levels have also been observed in the Vistula, Glomma, Rhône, Seine and the Po.
As regards sea ice, in August, the extent of the Arctic sea ice cover was the twelfth-lowest ever recorded for the month, whilst the Antarctic sea ice was the fourth-lowest on record. According to Copernicus, the overall picture confirms that global warming is fuelling increasingly intense extreme events, affecting the atmosphere, oceans and hydrological systems simultaneously.
