A woman cools off in the Trocadéro fountains, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, during a heat wave in Paris, June 26, 2026. (Credit: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)
Some 1.3 billion people worldwide this year experienced the hottest June-to-August period on record, according to an AFP analysis of meteorological data from the European Copernicus program.
Fifty-two countries across all continents broke their seasonal temperature records for that period, AFP’s analysis found.
The EU's climate monitor also said Thursday that August was the hottest single month ever recorded globally, with ocean temperatures also reaching unprecedented highs as western Europe capped its warmest summer.
In response to the assessment by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the U.N. warned that until humanity weaned off fossil fuels, the planet would only push deeper into uncharted territory.
The extreme heat has taken many forms, from unprecedented heat waves in Europe to devastating drought in Sudan and toxic smoke in Indonesia.
In some countries, such as France and Britain, meteorological agencies announced record temperatures, but many less-equipped nations do not publish detailed climate data.
AFP’s analysis provides a global overview of temperature records.
The Copernicus data set incorporates measurements from satellites and ground stations, as well as modeling. It covers the entire world, with hourly data going back to 1970.
Early El Nino
El Nino, a climate phenomenon expected to peak later this year, has already contributed to extreme heat in Central America and northern parts of South America, where nine countries experienced their hottest June-to-August period on record this year.
The natural weather pattern, which brings worldwide changes in winds, air pressure and rainfall, is expected to be the strongest in four decades.
The Central American country of El Salvador was 2.5 degrees Celsius hotter than the 1991-2020 average, successively breaking monthly records from May to August.
In Panama, drought has led authorities to reduce ship transits through the vital Panama Canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and carries 5% of global maritime trade.
El Nino is also contributing to an exceptional dry spell in Indonesia, where nearly 100 million people experienced the hottest June-to-August period on record.
The drought fueled fires in tropical jungles on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra in August.
Thick plumes of smoke that caused respiratory problems spread to neighboring Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, where schools were forced to close.
More than 35,000 deaths in Europe
Western and southern Europe broke numerous heat records throughout the summer.
Eleven countries broke their average summer temperature records.
At least 35,000 excess deaths or deaths directly linked to the heat have been recorded, according to an AFP estimate.
The tally is based on health reports from mid-June through the end of August in eight countries: Germany, England, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Portugal.
Nile runs low
More than a third of the people who experienced the hottest northern summer months on record were in Africa, particularly in the Sahel and areas south of it.
Eighteen African countries broke their seasonal records for the June-to-August period, from Mauritania and Sierra Leone in the west to Eritrea and Ethiopia in the east.
Several countries hit by the record heat, such as Burkina Faso and Mali, are particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures because they are already grappling with armed conflicts and severe poverty.
In Uganda and Sudan, temperatures exceeded the 1991-2020 averages by more than 2 degrees Celsius, which is rare at these latitudes.
The Nile River is at an abnormally low level in war-torn Sudan, which is already facing the world’s worst food crisis.
El Nino has delayed the arrival of rains essential for agriculture, leaving the country’s farmland uncultivated.
Other parts of the world that experienced record temperatures between June and August included Uzbekistan, India’s west coast, the Melbourne and Canberra regions of Australia, and the U.S. states of Utah and Colorado.
