Last month tied July 2023 as the hottest month recorded worldwide, with temperatures 1.65C above preindustrial levels, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said Thursday. August 2026 was the first month since November 2025 to exceed 1.5C of global warming.
Western Europe just completed its hottest summer on record, eclipsing a mark set in 2003.
In another sign of the planet heating up, sea-surface temperatures across most of the world’s oceans are expected on Thursday to mark their 100th straight day at record levels for the time of year, according to an analysis by Climate Central, an independent nonprofit in Princeton, N.J.
Daily sea-surface temperatures outside the polar regions have been at record levels since June 2, according to the analysis, which uses data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The streak includes a provisional all-time daily record of 70.2F on Aug. 23, surpassing a previous record set in March 2024.
The run comes just days after the United Nations delivered a sobering assessment of where global temperatures are headed. A Sept. 2 UN report warned that the planet is likely to overshoot 1.5C — a threshold countries agreed in the Paris accord to try to stay below — within the next few years.
Long-term warming is now about 1.4C. Under the UN’s most optimistic scenario, temperatures would peak at about 1.8C before declining.
In the shorter term, a strong El Niño is adding a natural warming boost on top of the heat increase driven by carbon emissions.
“2026 is already shattering records for ocean heat, and this is only likely to continue into 2027 and well into the future if we do not reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Zachary Labe, an atmospheric scientist at Climate Central, said in a statement.
Kaufman writes for Bloomberg.
