Mediterranean Sea now at spa temperature, daily average 28.54°C on 13 August

Published on

06/09/2026 - 16:41 GMT+2

Surface waters across the Mediterranean Sea reached an average temperature of 28.54ºC on 13 August, the highest recorded since at least 1940, Spain's State Meteorological Agency reported on Sunday.

Aemet itself noted on social media that throughout almost the whole of August the sea was breaking daily temperature records, one after another, with barely any respite.

The warning comes just weeks after Mercator Ocean International, which implements the Copernicus marine service, confirmed that July had already been the hottest month ever measured in the Mediterranean. The average that month was 27.07ºC, with a margin of uncertainty of ±0.27ºC, beating the previous maximum, set in July 2025 (26.68ºC), by four tenths of a degree.