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August Recorded as Joint Hottest Month in Global History

morning · · thread: Half of England Officially Declared in Drought Amid Record Low Rainfall

14 sources across 12 countries

Who reported this

  • Le Monde France · Centre-left · Fonds pour l'independance de la presse
  • France 24 France · Centre · Public · France Medias Monde (French state holding)
  • The Guardian United Kingdom · Centre-left · Scott Trust Limited
  • BBC News United Kingdom · Centre · Public · Licence fee, royal charter
  • The Daily Star Bangladesh · Centre · Mediaworld Ltd
  • Politico Europe Belgium · Centre · Axel Springer SE
  • Folha de S.Paulo Brazil · Centre · Grupo Folha (Frias family)
  • Frankfurter Allgemeine Germany · Centre-right · FAZIT-Stiftung (foundation)
  • South China Morning Post Hong Kong · Centre-right · Alibaba Group
  • NRC Netherlands · Centre · Mediahuis
  • Aftenposten Norway · Centre-right · Schibsted, Tinius Trust foundation
  • Daily Maverick South Africa · Centre-left · Reader-funded
  • Bangkok Post Thailand · Centre · Post Publishing PCL
  • Al-Monitor United States · Centre · Jamal Daniel

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

August 2026 was the joint hottest month ever recorded globally, tying with July 2023, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Global average air temperatures reached 16.96 degrees Celsius, which is 1.65 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This mark represents the first time since November 2025 that monthly global temperatures have exceeded the 1.5 degree Celsius threshold established by the 2015 Paris climate agreement. Scientists noted that while a single month above this limit does not constitute a permanent breach of the agreement, it indicates a trend toward that limit.

Ocean temperatures also reached unprecedented levels, with the average sea surface temperature hitting 21.07 degrees Celsius. Experts attribute these records to a combination of human-driven global warming from the burning of fossil fuels and the influence of a strong El Nino weather pattern in the tropical Pacific. This El Nino is expected to reach peak intensity around December, leading scientists to predict that records may continue to fall and that 2026 or 2027 could become the hottest years ever observed.

The extreme heat capped the warmest summer ever recorded for western Europe, surpassing the previous record set in 2003. This season was characterized by severe heatwaves, wildfires, and droughts that affected river levels in the Rhine and Danube. In Europe, the EuroMomo monitoring platform estimated more than 32,000 excess deaths between mid-July and mid-August. Other regions also experienced record heat, including the contiguous United States, which endured its hottest summer on record.

United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell described the data as irrefutable evidence of the price of humanity's fossil fuel addiction. Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts stated that humans have likely not seen temperatures this high for at least 100,000 years. While most reports focused on the scientific data and the urgent need for a transition to clean energy, some center-right outlets emphasized the specific economic and environmental impacts, such as the severity of droughts and the resulting low water levels in major European rivers.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
These outlets emphasized the human cost of the heat, including the impact on vulnerable workers and the risk of reaching planetary tipping points.
Centre
These outlets focused on the scientific data and the warnings from the UN and Copernicus regarding fossil fuel reliance.
Centre-right
These outlets provided detailed accounts of regional environmental impacts, such as specific river levels and drought conditions in Europe.

Sources

93% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.