August Ties Hottest Month on Record as Summer Smashes US Marks

August tied July 2023 as the hottest month ever measured, while the Lower 48 recorded its warmest summer in 132 years of NOAA records.

NOAA announced this week that June through August 2026 was the warmest summer in the Lower 48 states in 132 years of record-keeping, according to NPR. Globally, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that August tied with July 2023 as the hottest month on record, averaging 62.53°F. August also exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the key threshold agreed in the 2015 Paris accord. The Weather Network reports global June-August temperatures ran 1.21°C above normal, with North America notching its warmest summer since records began in 1895.

The Times Leader reports that for the first time, US summer heat surpassed even the peak of the Dust Bowl in 1936, with the contiguous states averaging 74.37°F — nearly four tenths of a degree warmer than the 90-year-old mark. Berkeley Earth climate scientist Zeke Hausfather, cited by the Times Leader, says that August rather than traditionally hotter July setting the all-time record is a sign that human-caused climate change is accelerating. The Weather Network adds that 57% of more than 133,000 daily heat records set worldwide this year were record-high overnight minimums, not daytime highs.

Copernicus data shows global ocean temperatures in August tied the March 2024 all-time monthly record, and August 22 set a record for the hottest day ever recorded in the world's seas, per the Times Leader. NPR notes record high sea surface temperatures were seen across the Pacific as El Niño began to develop. Scientists attribute the primary driver to human-caused climate change. 'The number one reason is climate change. Full stop,' said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, in the NPR report.

The consequences are already severe. NPR reports French officials recorded thousands of deaths during Western Europe's hottest summer on record, while tens of millions of Americans were under extreme heat advisories or warnings from the National Weather Service. Drought covered almost 60% of the U.S. this summer. Copernicus senior scientist Francesca Guglielmo told NPR the numbers carry real-time impacts: increased energy and cooling demand, more droughts, hotter oceans and greater wildfire risk. The Weather Network also reports Paris alone reached 30°C or higher more than 50 times between May and September.

One of the most underappreciated dangers is that nights are no longer cooling down. NOAA reported above-average nighttime temperatures across most of the contiguous US this summer, according to NPR. A study from Climate Central, cited by NPR, found people worldwide lose about 56 hours — seven full nights — of sleep every year due to heat. Swain told NPR that overnight heat can be even more dangerous than daytime heat 'because you never get that reset cycle' when the body would otherwise recover. The Weather Network's record tally confirms this: a majority of 2026's daily heat records were overnight minimums.

Scientists expect above-average September temperatures, with significant wildfire potential across parts of the Northwest and Southern U.S., according to NPR. Swain says these records will not stop without cuts to fossil fuel emissions: 'We've got to bend that carbon curve,' he told NPR, adding that despite green energy progress, 'we are not on the path that we need to be on.'