August has been the hottest month ever recorded worldwide

Last August was the hottest month ever recorded globally, with an average surface air temperature of 1.65 ° C above the pre-industrial level and an average of 0.85 ° C for the period 1991-2020 , according to the CopernicusClimate Change Service (C3S).

In that period oftime, average temperatures on the ocean surface outside the poles have also reached their highest level to date, matching the March 2024 record, and the historic daily peak has been broken globally, with 21.11 ° C.

At the same time, the Tropical Calm Ocean has recorded unprecedented temperatures on its surface, showing an increase in the El Niño phenomenon . The Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) reports that the effects of this climate event can already be felt on land, increasing extreme conditions for forest fires in regions like Indonesia.

An oven in Europe

Looking at the European continent as a whole, the average temperature in August has been 20.26 ° C ( 1.1 ° C higherthan the average for the period 1991-2020), making it the fourth warmest August since records have been recorded. In the overall weather summer computation (June to August), the season has been the third warmest, after 2024 and 2022.

However, the impact has been even greater in Western Europe. This region has experienced the warmest summer in its history, exceeding the peak of July 2023 and the record of 2003. In this summer season of 2026, heat waves have been very early, persistent and intense; extreme temperatures began in May.

To this stifling heat has been added a general severe drought during this period, which has been particularly critical in France, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Romania and Serbia, which has causedthe flow of the main rivers of Uropa E to fall to very low levels, affecting large sections of the Seine, the Rhine, the Danube, the South Bug and the Dnieper.

The temperature of the sea surface across Europe has reached historic highs in August, both on the Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean; warming is directly related to intense or severe heat waves at sea.

And in the South Basque Country?

Following the global trend, the Basque Country and Navarre have exceeded the historical averages of that month in August.

In the case of the Basque Country, the Basque Meteorology Agency, Euskalmet, has described last month as very dry and warm, with an average global temperature of 21.9 ° C, 2.4 degrees warmer than the average for the period 1991-2020, making August 2026 the second warmest since 1970, after 2003.

In Navarre it has also been a warm month, and very hot in the far east: in the Ribera, Navarra Medio, Estella and Cantábrica regions they have exceeded their historical averages between 2 and 3 ° C, while in the rest of the Foral community the month of August has been between 3 and 4 degrees warmer.