Copernicus: August 2026 records highest global average temperature

August 2026 recorded the highest global average air temperature in the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s records dating back to 1940, at 16.96°C. The European Union agency said on Thursday that Western Europe also experienced its warmest summer since records began. August’s average exceeded the previous record, set in July 2023 at 16.95°C, by 0.01°C. However, Copernicus ranked the two months jointly because the difference between them was so small. Samantha Burgess, the climate strategy lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates the service, said August 2026 was an exceptional month in the history of the global climate. She added that humans had probably not experienced temperatures like those recorded today for at least 100,000 years. The service’s data showed that June to August was the warmest period globally, tied with 2024. The summer of 2026 was marked by extreme temperatures in parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including cities such as New York, Tokyo, Rome and New Delhi, affecting the daily lives of outdoor workers and the most vulnerable groups. The global average temperature in August was 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels, exceeding for the first time since November 2025 the more ambitious threshold set by the Paris climate agreement. The service said the 1.5°C threshold is measured over a multiyear average, not on the basis of a single month. In Western Europe, early, prolonged and severe heatwaves produced the hottest summer in the region’s history, surpassing the summer of 2003. Across Europe, the average air temperature reached 20.26°C in August, 1.10°C higher, making the summer of 2026 the third-warmest on record. The warming extended to the oceans, where the monthly average sea-surface temperature, excluding polar regions, reached its highest level on record, similar to levels recorded in March 2024. The report said the El Niño phenomenon periodically raised ocean temperatures during the year, amid scientists’ concerns that droughts, floods and extreme weather events could intensify. Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said continued burning of large amounts of coal, oil and gas would keep warming the planet and drive heatwaves to break records. He called for a faster transition to clean energy and the protection of forests and oceans.