August Matches the Hottest Month Ever Measured Globally
Sandego.net – August delivered a stark new signal of a warming planet: it was the hottest August ever recorded worldwide and matched the highest monthly global temperature observed since at least 1940. The extraordinary heat also made August unusual in another way, surpassing July, the month that more commonly holds the annual global temperature peak.
The planet’s average surface air temperature reached 62.53 degrees Fahrenheit, or 16.96 degrees Celsius, during August. That was 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit (0.85 degrees Celsius) above the 1991–2020 average, Copernicus Climate Change Service data shows.
Ocean heat played a major role. Global sea-surface temperatures equaled the warmest monthly average ever registered in any month, adding energy to the climate system and helping sustain extreme conditions on land.
A summer of global temperature milestones
June, July and August—the meteorological summer in the Northern Hemisphere—also tied the summer of 2024 as the warmest such three-month period on record globally. The back-to-back milestones reflect the combined influence of long-term warming caused by human activity and a strengthening El Niño in the tropical Pacific.
El Niño occurs when sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific become warmer than normal. Those changes can alter weather patterns across large parts of the world. While every El Niño unfolds differently, the phenomenon can contribute to higher global temperatures and raise the likelihood of disruptive heat, rainfall and drought patterns in some regions.
The previous major El Niño, spanning 2023 and 2024, coincided with a 13-month run of record global temperatures in Copernicus records. Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said the current event could bring another extended period of exceptional warmth, potentially lasting as long as or longer than the earlier streak because this El Niño is more intense.
August exceeding July on the global scale is itself a rare occurrence. Since 1940, August had outpaced July’s global average temperature only four times before this year. The latest earlier instance was in 1985.
Heat extremes spread across Europe and the United States
The summer’s global figures were reflected in severe regional heat. Western Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, with temperatures well beyond previous benchmarks. A succession of intense heat waves affected the continent, while wildfires broke out in places not typically associated with frequent fire activity, including the United Kingdom.
The United States also recorded its hottest summer, surpassing both the long-standing 1936 Dust Bowl-era benchmark and 2021, which had previously shared the record. Repeated heat domes moved across much of the Lower 48 states, creating long spells of unusually high temperatures. The Southwest was especially exposed to persistent record-breaking heat.
For households, workers and communities, a hotter global average does not mean every location experiences identical conditions on every day. Instead, it raises the baseline from which local weather develops. That means heat waves can become more intense, linger longer and occur more often, even as weather conditions continue to vary from place to place.
“We’re at a real inflection point for society,” Burgess said. “We’ve seen catastrophic climate events around the world, and I think this summer we’ve really seen the impacts hitting people everywhere.”
Burgess pointed to a growing awareness in Europe following the exceptionally hot summer that the region is “maladapted to our current climate.” The challenge extends beyond coping with individual heat waves. Buildings, transport systems, public health planning, water supplies and wildfire preparedness were largely designed around past climate conditions rather than the warmer conditions now emerging.
“One of the key takeaways is that the warmer our background climate is, the more intense, more frequent, and more long-lasting the extremes are,” Burgess said.
The significance of the 1.5-degree threshold
August’s global average surface air temperature stood 2.97 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.65 degrees Celsius, above the preindustrial average. It was the first month since November of the previous year to rise above the Paris Agreement’s 1.5-degree Celsius long-term temperature goal.
A single month above that level does not mean the Paris target has formally been exceeded over the long term. The goal is assessed across longer periods, not isolated months. Still, the result illustrates how close the world is moving toward a threshold associated with rising risks from climate-related impacts.
The United Nations Environment Programme warned in a report released last week that the 1.5-degree target is likely to be passed over the long run without steep reductions in climate pollution that warms the planet. Research has found that the potential for severe and potentially catastrophic climate consequences rises as warming moves further beyond that level.
The record warmth of August is therefore more than a statistical milestone. It points to a climate system in which unusually hot oceans, an active El Niño and the accumulated effects of human-caused warming can reinforce each other. As that background warming continues, the consequences are increasingly visible in the heat experienced by people, the stresses placed on infrastructure and the growing need to prepare for a climate that no longer resembles the one many communities were built to handle.
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