Wilted sunflowers in Boulder, Colorado, get a much-needed drink on August 2, 2026. Last month was the hottest August in Boulder’s history of weather observations. The city hit 100°F on seven days in July and August, the most for any calendar year on record in Boulder. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)
The 48 contiguous United States have just achieved an unhappy trifecta: the warmest August, warmest summer, and warmest calendar year to date in 131 years of national recordkeeping. Both the monthly and seasonal records were set by unusually big margins.
The August climate report from the National Centers for Environmental Information, or NCEI, tells the story in grimly heated detail.
August 2026: The 48-state average temperature of 75.58°F came in 0.54°F above the next-warmest August (1983).
Summer (June-August 2026): The 48-state average of 74.37°F ended up 0.39°F warmer than the summers of both 1936 and 2021. All of the Four Corners states (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) saw their warmest summers on record.
