August hottest month ever recorded globally: EU monitor
Picture taken on August 14, 2026 with a drone shows the Pfalzgrafenstein Castle on an island in the dried-up river Rhine in Kaub, western Germany. (AFP Photo)
The EU’s climate monitor said on Sept. 10 that August was the hottest single month ever recorded globally, with ocean temperatures also reaching unprecedented highs as western Europe capped its warmest summer.
In response to the assessment by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the U.N. warned that until humanity weaned off fossil fuels, the planet would only push deeper into uncharted territory.
Copernicus observations go back to 1940 but other evidence, such as ice cores, tree rings and coral skeletons, allow scientists to place today’s climate against a much longer historical context.
