August joint hottest month on record, global temperatures again above 1.5°C: C3S says

Amidst a strengthening El Nino, August was the joint warmest month ever recorded globally, tied with July 2023, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Thursday. The global average surface air temperature was 1.65°C higher than the estimated pre-industrial baseline this August, also making it the first month to exceed 1.5°C since November 2025, it said.Global temperatures rose 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels in August, making it the joint hottest month on record amid strengthening El Niño conditions. (Representative photo)At the same time, August also saw the joint highest monthly average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) ever recorded across the extra-polar ocean, tied with March 2024, and the highest daily global SST over the extra-polar ocean ever recorded, at 21.11ºC, it said, linking it to strong El Nino conditions.This comes a week after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on August 3 said El Niño has firmly established and will intensify into a ‘very strong’ event in the coming months. It had attached a near 100% likelihood that it will persist through February 2027, warning of impacts on rainfall and temperature patterns globally. A day prior to that, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) had said global temperature rise is likely to cross the 1.5°C threshold by the end of this decade, pushing climate risks and impacts such as intensified extreme weather to increasingly dangerous heights.Also Read: A strong El Nino is inevitable — history shows its effects will hit hardest in 2027“With a global average surface air temperature 1.65°C higher than the estimated pre-industrial baseline, this August was the first month to exceed 1.5°C since November 2025. Meanwhile, record high SSTs were seen across the tropical Pacific, an area where a potentially extreme El Niño event continues to intensify. The impacts of this event are already being felt over land, with conditions favouring the intensification of seasonal wildfires across Indonesia..” C3S said in a statement on Thursday.Copernicus is the Earth observation component of the European Union’s Space programme. It includes assistance from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) -- both as a research institute and operational service which gives global numerical weather predictions.The month also marked the end of western Europe’s warmest summer on record --surpassing the previous record set in 2003. The region saw further heatwaves in August, continuing an exceptional run of extreme heat that began in May. Much of the region and large parts of central and eastern Europe also saw widespread dryness in August, in some cases persisting since May, with severe drought conditions reported in France, United Kingdom Hungary, Romania and Serbia. Across the dry regions, major European river flows were exceptionally low, including – from west to east – the Rhine, Danube, Southern Bug and Dnieper experiencing exceptionally low flows.Also Read; Biggest El Nino in ‘over a century’ to dial up global heat, India braces for double crop hitSamantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at ECMWF said August 2026 was a remarkable month in the global climate record. “These observations show how climate change is driving extremes across both the atmosphere and the oceans. The impacts of these conditions are increasingly being felt by communities, economies and ecosystems across the world.”Speaking at the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety in Brussels on the same day, UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell said the impacts of climate were already visible, with this summer’s climate-driven extreme heat killing tens of thousands of people. “It has hammered Europe’s infrastructure, businesses, and economies. We’ve seen mass evacuations. Power stations closed and trade routes choked. Crops lost, yields went down and food prices up – and are set to rise further,” Stiell said, calling for countries to work in partnership and forge International alliances that secure supply chains for clean energy and new industries.“The Turkish COP31 Presidency, working closely with Australia, has set key Action Agenda targets, including 35% of final global energy demand met by electricity by 2035,” he added.