August declared world’s hottest month ever

According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service, August 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded globally, driving up global temperatures to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service, August 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded globally, driving up global temperatures to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Scientists have said climate change plays a key role in the landslides and flash floods that killed hundreds of people in Nepal and Tibet, China.

Temperatures more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels are significant because, when measured as a multi-decade average, that level of warming represents the threshold that nearly 200 countries committed to limit warming below under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

The records further showed that 1.65C was hotter than the planet’s average temperature in the 19th century, before humans started burning oil, coal and gas on an industrial scale. The data confirmed that western Europe is emerging from its most extreme heat season to date, with many regions suffering low river flows and exhausted soil conditions.

According to C3S, the world’s oceans outside the polar regions also recorded their equal-highest sea surface temperatures for any month.

Samantha Burgess, strategic lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said: “We’ve really seen the impact across Europe of how maladapted we are, with roads melting, train lines buckling, schools closing, hospitals completely overwhelmed, and record wildfires for the time of year.”

Record-high temperatures were prompted by the development of an El Niño weather pattern, which is forecast to deepen in the coming months.