August 2026 was the warmest month ever recorded worldwide, matching the previous record set in July 2023, according to Copernicus, the European Commission's climate monitoring programme, which tracks Earth's temperature using satellite data and other observations. The global average temperature last month reached nearly 17 degrees Celsius — specifically 16.96°C — marking a rise of 1.65 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the benchmark period before 1900 when large-scale burning of coal, oil and gas began.
The figure once again breaches the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold that nearly all countries agreed to try to stay within under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Scientists are careful to note that a single month above this level does not mean the limit has been permanently crossed — that determination requires sustained warming over longer periods — but the trend is unmistakable. Heat records are being broken far more frequently than cold records, and August 2026 stands out even within that broader pattern. Earlier months of this year were notably less extreme.
Europe felt the heat acutely. The summer of 2026 was the warmest ever recorded in West Europe, surpassing the previous benchmark set during the devastating summer of 2003. Belgium recorded a seasonal average temperature of 20.3°C, well above the previous national record of 19.9°C set in 2018. The Netherlands endured its hottest and driest summer on record, with code red heat warnings issued for the first time in late June, low river water levels, and damage to agriculture, natural habitats, and flood-protection dykes.
Ocean temperatures also hit record highs. Excluding the polar regions, average sea surface temperatures reached 21.07°C in August — a level previously seen only once, in March 2024 during the Southern Hemisphere's summer. The warming reflects both long-term climate change heating the upper ocean layer and the influence of a powerful El Niño, the natural weather phenomenon in which warm water shifts from west to east across the Pacific Ocean, disrupting weather patterns worldwide. El Niño is associated with increased storms in some regions, drought in others, and generally elevated global temperatures.