Archive · 10 Sep 2026
August Ties Record as World’s Hottest Month
Scientists said August tied July 2023 as the hottest month ever recorded.
The planet’s average surface temperature was 16.96°C.
This was 1.65°C warmer than the 19th-century average, before large-scale fossil-fuel use.
One month above 1.5°C does not mean the Paris Agreement limit has officially been broken.
That limit is measured using temperatures averaged over many decades.
Hot conditions were linked with wildfires, droughts, floods, and landslides in different places.
Western Europe also had its hottest summer on record, causing problems for crops, rivers, roads, and daily life.
The oceans outside the polar regions were also as warm as ever recorded for a month.
Scientists said El Niño may make global temperatures rise even more in the coming months.
August tied July 2023 as the world’s warmest month on record, with an average temperature of 16.96°C.
Global temperatures were 1.65°C above 19th-century pre-industrial levels, exceeding 1.5°C for the first time since November 2025.
The monthly increase does not technically breach the Paris Agreement target, which is based on a decades-long average; long-term warming is about 1.4°C.
Extreme weather included floods and landslides in Nepal and China’s Tibet, wildfires from Indonesia to Greece and Belgium, and drought in Hungary and Romania.
Non-polar ocean temperatures also tied their monthly record, while strengthening El Niño could push global temperatures higher.
- Who
- The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported the record, while climate scientist Samantha Burgess described its impacts.
- What
- August tied July 2023 as the world’s hottest month on record and reached 1.65°C above 19th-century pre-industrial temperatures.
- When
- August, with the findings reported on September 10.
- Where
- Globally, with major effects reported in western Europe, Nepal, China’s Tibet, Indonesia, Greece, Belgium, Hungary, and Romania.
- Why
- Scientists attributed the broader warming mainly to fossil-fuel emissions, with El Niño contributing to unusually high temperatures.
Paris Target Still Applies
Climate Risks Are Already Escalating
Meaning of the 1.5°C threshold
Paris Target Still Applies
The world has not technically breached the Paris Agreement target because the target is based on a long-term, decades-wide average rather than one unusually hot month.
Climate Risks Are Already Escalating
August’s temperature exceeding 1.5°C, alongside record heat and extreme weather, shows that dangerous warming is already affecting communities and daily life.
Future temperature outlook
Paris Target Still Applies
The monthly record alone does not determine whether the long-term Paris threshold has been exceeded.
Climate Risks Are Already Escalating
The United Nations said last week that maintaining the long-term 1.5°C goal is no longer possible and urged faster carbon-dioxide reductions; strengthening El Niño could raise temperatures further.
Climate attribution
Paris Target Still Applies
Scientists said the specific role of climate change in the deadly landslides and flash floods in Nepal and China’s Tibet is still being studied.
Climate Risks Are Already Escalating
Scientists said climate change likely played a role in those disasters, while fossil-fuel emissions remain the main cause of climate change overall.
- Average global temperature
- 16.96°C in August
- Temperature above pre-industrial level
- 1.65°C above the 19th-century average
- Previous matching record
- July 2023
- Paris Agreement distinction
- The 1.5°C threshold is measured as a decades-long average, not by a single month
- Current long-term warming
- About 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels
- Western Europe
- Experienced its hottest summer on record, with low river flows and reduced soil moisture
- Ocean temperatures
- Non-polar oceans recorded their joint-highest monthly surface temperature
- Temperature records
- Copernicus records extend to 1940 and are cross-checked against records dating to 1850
