The contiguous United States has recorded its hottest summer since national temperature records began, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reporting unprecedented heat and expanding drought across much of the country.
Average temperatures between June and August reached 74.4F (23.6C), making meteorological summer 2026 the warmest in the 132-year record. The figure was 0.4F higher than the previous records, set in 1936 and 2021.
August also broke the record for the hottest month of its kind. The average temperature was 75.6F, while daytime highs averaged 88.6F — the highest such figure recorded across the contiguous US.
Record heat across the West
August temperatures were above or well above average across most of the country, with near-normal conditions largely confined to parts of the northern Plains and Midwest.
California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado all recorded their hottest August on record. California and New Mexico also experienced their highest average daytime temperatures, while exceptionally warm nights were recorded across Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.
Colorado, New Mexico and Utah each experienced their hottest summer on record. Arizona matched its previous record for the warmest summer.
The extreme warmth was accompanied by punishing heatwaves, wildfires and pressure on water supplies across the West, Southwest, southern Rockies, south-western Plains and southern Florida Peninsula.
August’s average temperature across the contiguous US was 3.5F above the 20th-century average, while the summer as a whole was 3F above the long-term benchmark.
Drought expands as rainfall falls short
Rainfall across the contiguous US averaged 8.11 inches during the summer, 0.21 inches below the 20th-century average. California received only 0.20 inches, making it the state’s fifth-driest summer on record and its driest since 2002.
Heavy rain in parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley contrasted sharply with severe dryness elsewhere. Indiana and Ohio recorded their wettest August on record, while Texas and Oklahoma received less than 30% of their usual rainfall for the month.
August was the driest month nationally since 2000, according to NOAA. By September 1, drought covered 59.1% of the contiguous US — an increase of more than 10 percentage points since early August.
Drought remained entrenched across much of the interior West and expanded or intensified across the northern Plains, parts of the Upper Midwest, the southern Plains, the lower Mississippi Valley and the Deep South.
NOAA’s outlook indicated that above-average temperatures were favoured across much of the country in September, while drought was expected to persist in parts of the Great Basin, the north-west and northern Plains, with further development possible across the southern and central Plains.
