Global sea surface temperatures climbed to their highest level ever observed in August, driven partly by El Niño conditions across large areas of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, both the Arctic and Antarctic recorded below-average sea ice extent during the month.

El Niño was one of the drivers of the climate in August. It 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, according to WMO’s latest El Niño Update.

El Niño influenced global tropical cyclone activity in August, as well as heavy rainfall and floods in some countries. Other countries were impacted by drought with El Niño conditions favouring the intensification of seasonal wildfires across Indonesia, as reported by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS).

Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), showed August was the joint warmest month ever recorded, tied with July 2023. The global average surface air temperature was 1.65°C higher than the estimated pre-industrial baseline.

NOAA’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. All ten of the warmest Augusts on record have occurred since 2016.

Record-high August temperatures were mainly present across Greenland, Africa, and parts of Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Canadian Arctic oceans as well as extensive areas of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.