• Ocean water temperature reaches all-time daily high; average air temperature climbs to nearly 17°C
• NOAA says 75pc chance of ‘strongest El Nino’ this year
• Scientists warn 2027 could break even more records

WASHINGTON: Global temperatures soared to all-time highs in August, making it the hottest month ever recorded worldwide as an unprecedented El Nino pattern grows stronger, Europe’s climate monitor said Thursday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that global average air temperatures in August reached 16.96°C, surpassing the previous single-month record set in July 2023 by 0.01°C. The European Union monitor considers the two months joint-highest given the narrow difference.

The extreme summer capped a season of severe heat waves and wildfires, ranking as the hottest on record for Western Europe and the contiguous United States. While Copernicus observations date back to 1940, evidence from ice cores and tree rings places today’s climate in a starker historical context.

“Humans haven’t seen temperatures as hot as today for, arguably, at least the last 100,000 years,” said Samantha Burgess, an ocean scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which oversees Copernicus.

United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell said the evidence is irrefutable. “This is the spiralling price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction,” he said.

The exceptional summer also drove ocean temperatures to record highs for three consecutive months, Simon van Gennip of Mercator Ocean International said. Marine heat waves persisted in some overheated basins for more than 60 days, highlighting how unusual the situation was, he said.

Global sea surface temperatures set a new all-time daily high in August. Copernicus said the main driver was global heating from burning fossil fuels, alongside rapidly rising temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, where a historic El Nino is gaining strength.

El Nino episodes are characterised by unusually warm Pacific waters but trigger major global changes, raising the odds of wild weather worldwide. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there is a 75 per cent chance the current pattern will exceed the strength of previous El Nino events dating back to 1950. “During the Oct-Dec 2026 season, there is a 75pc chance of a historic event,” NOAA said, noting an increase from 69pc last month.

Global forecasters predict this year’s event will peak at an intensity never observed in the modern era. Its influence is already being felt in Indonesia, where an intense dry season fed wildfires that torched swathes of Borneo.

Climate scientists warn the worst is yet to come. Even ordinary El Nino episodes have a temporary warming effect that compounds the impact of long-term climate change.

Scientists expect 2027 to become a record-setting year, but Burgess said 2026 could also prove historic.

“We expected 2026 to be in the top five, but now it’s second place, maybe in first place,” Burgess said. “We’ve seen a striking reminder of how quickly the climate system can shift when multiple drivers have aligned.”

The double whammy of climate change and El Nino means records will likely fall over the next six months, she added.

“Climate change makes every El Nino hotter, and until we stop burning coal, oil and gas, these record-shattering months will simply keep on coming,” said Friederike Otto of London’s Imperial College.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2026