This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: The contiguous United States has endured its hottest summer on record, a new peak that scientists said should send alarm bells ringing over the increasingly dire impacts of climate change. Among the Lower 48 states, the average temperature for the June-to-August period was 74.4°F (23.6°C), exceeding the previous record, set in 1936 and 2021, by 0.4°F, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday.
That means four of the hottest summers on record occurred within the past five years, with 2022 and 2024 taking fourth and fifth places, respectively, as human-caused climate change due mainly to the burning of fossil fuels looms large over the trend. This year also saw the warmest August since records began in 1895, with an average temperature of 75.6°F (24.2°C). NOAA had previously announced that July 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States.
"It is now time to stop acting surprised that our warming planet keeps getting warmer," Andrew Dessler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, told AFP. "This is occurring exactly as forecast by scientists literally decades ago. The interesting question is not whether we will keep breaking heat records (we will), but whether we're going to do anything about it or just stand there while the climate train runs us over." The so-called "Dust Bowl summers" of the 1930s—especially that of 1936—were fueled by drought and extreme heat combined with overplowing across the Great Plains.
"The record summer is certainly in line with what we expect from human-caused climate change; as the U.S. and the planet as a whole warm, heat waves become both more frequent and more intense," climate scientist Zeke Hausfather of Berkeley Earth told AFP. "It should absolutely send alarm bells ringing, as these hotter summers lead to increased heat stress, higher energy demand for cooling, and strain on infrastructure and public health systems." Most states experienced above- to much-above-average August temperatures, with near-average conditions seen only in parts of the northern Plains and Midwest, NOAA said. Precipitation was below average, ranking in the driest third on record for both August and the June-to-August period.
Drought covered nearly 60% of the contiguous U.S.—not including Alaska and Hawaii—by Sept. 1, NOAA said. Notable events included Lake Mead, America's largest reservoir, dropping to its lowest level on record, falling 1.5 feet (0.5 meters) below its previous low in July 2022. Elsewhere, severe storms brought heavy rain, including in central Indiana, where 11 inches (28 centimeters) fell between Aug. 11 and 17.
Alaska's average August temperature and average summer temperature ranked in the warmest third among records, while Hawaii saw its third-warmest August and a summer that fell into the warmest third. Hawaii was also exceptionally wet: Hurricane Lala brought heavy rainfall, contributing to its second-wettest August on record. The data come as a strengthening El Niño pattern, expected to be the most intense in decades, begins to unleash extreme weather across much of the globe.
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