August 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded globally, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, extending a run of extraordinary temperatures across land and sea and raising fears that more records could fall in the months ahead.

The global average air temperature reached 16.96°C in August, marginally exceeding the previous monthly record set in July 2023. Given the tiny difference of 0.01°C, Copernicus considers the two months effectively tied as the hottest on record.

The figures add to mounting evidence of the speed at which the planet is warming. Scientists estimate that human activity, principally the burning of coal, oil and gas, has already raised global temperatures by about 1.4°C above pre-industrial levels.

While Copernicus records extend back to 1940, evidence from ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons provides a much longer perspective. Scientists say current temperatures may be unprecedented in human experience over tens of thousands of years.

The oceans are also flashing warning signals. Global sea-surface temperatures reached a new daily record during August, continuing months of exceptional marine heat. The oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases, helping moderate warming on land but placing growing pressure on marine ecosystems, coral reefs and coastal communities.

The developing El Niño in the tropical Pacific could push temperatures still higher. El Niño naturally raises global temperatures and can disrupt weather thousands of kilometres away, contributing to droughts, floods, fires and other extremes. Combined with long-term climate change, scientists fear the current powerful El Niño could help make 2026 or 2027 the hottest year yet recorded.

Europe has already experienced a punishing summer. Copernicus said August concluded western Europe’s hottest summer on record, surpassing the landmark heat of 2003. Successive heatwaves closed schools, depleted rivers and created conditions for destructive wildfires. Europe’s EuroMomo monitoring system estimated more than 32,000 excess deaths between mid-July and mid-August.

Extreme heat was hardly confined to Europe. The United States also recorded its hottest summer, while regions inhabited by hundreds of millions of people experienced unprecedented temperatures.

Scientists warn that individual records are now part of a much larger pattern: as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, exceptional heat is becoming increasingly less exceptional.