Warmest temperatures ever in Europe
As shown by an AFP analysis based on data from the European Copernicus programme, around 1.3 billion people experienced the hottest boreal summer on record between June and August. The average temperature record for the period was broken in 52 countries on all continents. These include Italy, Spain, France and Switzerland, with the last two countries more than 3°C above the 1991-2020 average. Furthermore, in eight European countries, at least 35 thousand excess or directly heat-related deaths were recorded between mid-June and the end of August.
Record heat globally
In nine countries between Central America and the northern area of South America, the June-August period was the most muggy ever. In Indonesia, heat and drought have affected almost 100 million people, encouraging fires and a cloud of toxic smoke that reached as far as Malaysia. In Africa, around 450 million people were also affected by record temperatures, with 18 countries at record highs. The situation in Sudan is particularly serious, where the low levels of the Nile and the delay in rains have aggravated the agricultural and food crisis.
The heat wave and the drought
As Copernicus highlights, widespread drought was also recorded in August across much of Western Europe and large central and eastern areas, in some cases persisting into May, with severe arid conditions reported in France, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania and Serbia. In all regions affected by drought, the flows of the main European rivers were exceptionally low: for example, the Rhine, the Danube, the Southern Bug and the Dnieper. "August 2026 was a significant month in global climate history. It was both the warmest August and the warmest month on record, with global temperatures reaching 1.65°C above pre-industrial levels, marking the return of global temperatures above 1.5°C," warns Samantha Burgess, strategic climate manager at ECMWF.
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The increase in temperatures
Specifically, as Copernicus again reports, the average global surface air temperature in August 2026 was 16.96 °C, i.e. 0.85 °C above the average for the period 1991–2020. Last month recorded a temperature 1.65 °C higher than the estimated average of the pre-industrial period 1850-1900, and was the first month with a value above 1.5 °C since November 2025. The period from June to August 2026 was the warmest ever recorded globally, on par with 2024. In Europe, specifically, the average temperature in August 2026 was 20.26 °C, or 1.10 °C above the average for the month for the period 1991-2020.
The effects of climate change
“Together with record global sea surface temperatures and the hottest summer on record for Western Europe, these observations show how climate change is driving extremes in both the atmosphere and oceans,” explains Burgess. The effects of these conditions “are increasingly being felt in communities, economies and ecosystems around the world,” he added.
The seas and polar ice
New highs were also reached for the sea. In August, the average surface temperature of the extrapolar oceans was the highest ever recorded for the month, at 21.07 °C, surpassing the previous record of 20.98 °C set in August 2023. Also in the same period, the extent of Arctic sea ice ranked 12th among the lowest ever recorded for that month. Sea temperatures have remained exceptionally high across much of the tropical Pacific, where El Niño conditions are present and are forecast to strengthen further in the coming months.
