The U.S. just had its hottest summer on record, NOAA says

The United States just experienced its hottest summer on record, officials said, after several months of high temperatures and expanding drought across the country.

According to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, temperatures nationwide averaged 74.4 degrees Fahrenheit between June and August, which is the period known to climate scientists as “meteorological summer.” It was the warmest summer the country has ever seen since temperature and precipitation records began 132 years ago, exceeding the previous record set in 1936 and again in 2021 by 0.4 degrees.

August 2026 alone broke monthly temperature records, the report said. The temperature for the entire month averaged out to 75.6 degrees, although the average daytime high was considerably higher at 88.6 degrees — the warmest recorded average of its kind.

Blistering heat

This summer’s temperatures showed significant changes from the patterns observed over the course of the 20th century, overall and in August specifically, the report said. In 2026, average temperatures between June and August were three and a half degrees hotter than summer averages collected throughout the 1900s. August’s average was three degrees hotter on its own.

Much of the contiguous U.S. endured “above- to much-above average” temperatures last month, according to the report. The only areas where normal conditions were observed were isolated to pockets of the Midwest and northern Plains. 

Meanwhile, record warmth was widespread across the West, Southwest, southern Rockies, southwestern Plains and the southern Florida Peninsula, which experienced punishing heat waves, destructive wildfires and declining water reserves as a result. 

California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado all experienced their warmest August temperatures on record this year, with California and New Mexico seeing average daily highs soar to record heights. Even nighttime lows were, on average, the highest they’ve ever been in August across vast sections of the West, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

Several southwestern states endured record-breaking heat for the length of the summer, including Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, while Arizona tied its previous record for the warmest summer.

Precipitation rates fell below average

Although parts of the country faced storms that brought heavy rain, precipitation across the U.S. this summer was still lower than the 20th century average, the report found. Nationwide, the average of 8.11 inches of rain that fell between June and August was 0.21 inches below last century’s average. Substantially above-average precipitation in states like Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio was canceled out by historically sparse totals recorded in places like California, which had its driest summer since 2002 and its fifth-driest ever recorded.

The contrast was particularly stark in August, when Indiana and Ohio saw record-high precipitation for the month while Texas and Oklahoma neared their record lows. 

August also brought deepening drought to parts of the country, the report said, citing the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nationwide, drought had expanded to cover 59.1% of the U.S. at the start of September, after increasing by more than 10% since the start of August. While still present across many areas of the West that had already been experiencing it, the drought spread further into the middle of the country. However, it weakened somewhat in certain sections of the Southwest, Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions.