US just had its hottest summer and hottest August on record, NOAA says

The contiguous United States recorded its hottest August and hottest meteorological summer since recordkeeping began in 1895, according to a NOAA analysis. August 2026 averaged 75.6 degrees Fahrenheit across the Lower 48, the warmest August in the 132-year record, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported.

The June through August average of 74.4 degrees Fahrenheit broke the previous record, a tie held by 1936 and 2021, by 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. The average daytime high across the country reached 88.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the warmest such average on record, according to CBS News reporting on the NOAA data. Summer 2026 ran 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the average summer of the early 1900s, and August alone came in 3 degrees Fahrenheit above its historical average, CBS News reported.

California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado each recorded their warmest August on record, and Arizona tied its warmest summer on record, CBS News reported.

The January through August stretch was also the warmest year to date in 131 years of recordkeeping, with an average temperature of 57.98 degrees Fahrenheit, 0.08 degrees above the prior record set in 2012, according to Yale Climate Connections.

Drought covered 59.1% of the contiguous United States as of September 1, 2026, up roughly 10.5 percentage points since early August, the National Centers for Environmental Information reported. Abnormally dry conditions covered 79% of the Lower 48 as of the same date, Yale Climate Connections reported, citing the U.S. Drought Monitor. Both figures were within a few percentage points of their record highs of 88% and 65%, respectively, according to Yale Climate Connections.

Texas and Oklahoma received less than 30% of their average August rainfall, while Indiana and Ohio recorded roughly double their normal August precipitation, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. California and New Mexico also set records for their warmest August daytime maximum temperatures, the agency reported. Contiguous US precipitation for the summer totaled 8.11 inches, 0.21 inch below average, the agency reported.

Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, said “it is now time to stop acting surprised that our warming planet keeps getting warmer,” according to NBC News. Dessler said “the interesting question is not whether we will keep breaking heat records, but whether we’re going to do anything about it or just stand there while the climate train runs us over.”

Marc Alessi, a climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said “we now live in a completely different climate than the one that existed 50 years ago,” according to Scientific American. Alessi said the ongoing El Nino “is occurring on top of a changed climate from the burning of fossil fuels.”

Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, said it is “increasingly likely that 2026 ends up beating 2024 as the warmest year on record, and almost certain that 2027 beats both, potentially reaching as high as 1.8 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels” on the back of the current El Nino, NBC News reported. Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London, said “while El Nino is starting to ramp up the heat, the underlying driver remains our relentless burning of fossil fuels,” according to NBC News.

United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said the record heat is “the spiraling price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction, and the global climate crisis it is fueling,” NBC News reported.