Earth news
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Earth had its hottest August on record, with global surface air temperature 1.65°C above pre-industrial baseline.
Record heat and El Niño conditions affect rainfall, drought and wildfire patterns into 2027.
Background
Multiple climate agencies — the EU's Copernicus Climate Service, NOAA and NASA — independently reported that August 2026 was the warmest August in the 1850–2026 record, and that the Northern Hemisphere had its warmest summer while the Southern Hemisphere had a near-record warm winter. Global sea surface temperature also hit an all-time observed high, with El Niño conditions fuelling record temperatures across the central and eastern tropical Pacific. The WMO published the finding on 11 September 2026, noting El Niño is now firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months.
How it unfolded
- Aug 2026Earth had its hottest August on record, per monthly reports from the EU's Copernicus Climate Service, NOAA and NASA; the Northern Hemisphere had its warmest summer and the Southern Hemisphere a near-record warm winter.
- Aug 2026Global sea surface temperature reached an all-time observed high, with El Niño conditions fuelling record temperatures across the central and eastern tropical Pacific; the Arctic and Antarctic each had below-average sea ice extent.
- Aug 2026ERA5 data from C3S showed August was the joint warmest month ever recorded, tied with July 2023, with the global average surface air temperature 1.65°C higher than the estimated pre-industrial baseline.
- Aug 2026NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information said the global surface temperature in August 2026 was 2.38°F (1.32°C) above the 20th-century average — the warmest August in the 1850–2026 record.
- Sep 11, 2026WMO published the news item 'Earth has hottest August on record'.
- Sep 14, 2026A Vega C rocket launched 2 European Earth-observing satellites (Europe Flex and Sentinel-3C) to orbit from South America.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- WMO said El Niño was one of the drivers of the climate in August, is now firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, with big impacts on rainfall and temperature patterns well into 2027.
- Official
- WMO said El Niño influenced global tropical cyclone activity in August, as well as heavy rainfall and floods in some countries, while other countries were impacted by drought, with conditions favouring the intensification of seasonal wildfires across Indonesia, as reported by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.