August 2026 has tied July 2023 as the warmest month ever recorded globally, with the latest data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service providing fresh evidence of the accelerating climate crisis.
Copernicus said the global average surface air temperature reached 16.96°C in August, making it the warmest August in its ERA5 dataset and effectively matching the previous all-month record of 16.95°C set in July 2023.
The difference between the two months was less than 0.01°C.
Copernicus Climate Change Service +1
The August temperature was 0.85°C above the 1991–2020 average and 1.65°C above the estimated pre-industrial level of 1850–1900.
It was the first month since November 2025 in which the global average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial baseline.
Copernicus Climate Change Service
Scientists, however, stress that this does not mean the world has formally breached the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target, because that target is assessed over a much longer period rather than on the basis of a single month’s temperature.
But the latest figure is nevertheless significant because it comes against a backdrop of increasingly frequent heatwaves, wildfires, floods, droughts and other climate-related extremes.
Copernicus reported that the extreme heat was accompanied by major climate impacts in different parts of the world, while Western Europe recorded its hottest summer on record. Average summer temperatures across the western European region reached 21.69°C, which was 2.54°C above the 1991–2020 average.
Copernicus Climate Change Service
Countries including France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and parts of the Balkans experienced particularly high temperatures during August, with several areas recording temperatures three to five degrees above their normal levels.
Copernicus Climate Change Service
The heat was not confined to land.
Copernicus said the average sea surface temperature across the extra-polar oceans reached 21.07°C in August, the highest August value on record. On August 24 and 25, daily sea surface temperatures reached 21.11°C, setting a new global record for the extra-polar ocean.
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The unusually warm oceans are particularly concerning because warmer seas can provide additional energy and moisture for extreme weather while placing further stress on marine ecosystems.
Copernicus also linked the exceptional temperatures to rapidly developing El Niño conditions in the equatorial Pacific, alongside the longer-term warming caused primarily by human-driven greenhouse-gas emissions. The agency said the warming conditions were already contributing to conditions favourable for intensified seasonal wildfires in Indonesia.
Copernicus Climate Change Service
The climate service further reported that the three-month period from June to August was jointly the warmest on record globally, matching 2024. Europe recorded its third-warmest summer, while Western Europe experienced its hottest summer on record.
Copernicus Climate Change Service
For climate scientists, the significance goes beyond another record appearing on a temperature chart.
Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said the combination of record atmospheric and ocean temperatures showed how climate change was driving extremes across both land and sea, with communities, economies and ecosystems increasingly experiencing the consequences.
The latest figures add to mounting evidence that global warming is reshaping weather patterns and increasing pressure on societies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions while strengthening adaptation and early-warning systems.
With August now joining the list of extraordinary temperature records, the warning from scientists is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore: the planet is not simply getting warmer — extreme heat is becoming a defining feature of the changing climate.
