Overview
- The European Copernicus service reported Thursday that August 2026 was the warmest month on record globally, tied with July 2023, with a surface-air anomaly of about +1.65°C versus preindustrial levels.
- Copernicus also found the June–August period to be the hottest meteorological summer on record and calculated that 1.3 billion people experienced their warmest summer on record while 52 countries set seasonal temperature records.
- NOAA said the United States experienced its hottest meteorological summer on record with an average temperature of 23.6°C, and national agencies including Aemet and Météo France reported country-level summer records.
- Health and impact data show large human and economic costs: provisional tallies attribute thousands of deaths in Spain and more than 30,000 excess deaths reported by EuroMOMO across Europe, alongside drought, wildfires and crop damage.
- Scientists link the episode to long-term greenhouse gas warming amplified by a strengthening El Niño, and they warn this combination could intensify ocean and atmospheric heat and raise risks to health, agriculture and infrastructure into 2027.