{
  "id": 6529212,
  "title": "August was world’s joint-hottest month on record, scientists say",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/10/august-was-worlds-joint-hottest-month-on-record-scientists-say",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-10T03:16:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daily Maverick",
    "slug": "daily-maverick",
    "url": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-09-10-august-was-worlds-joint-hottest-month-on-record-scientists-say/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "August 2023 tied with July 2023 as the hottest month ever recorded, with the globe's average temperature surpassing the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. This level of warming is the target that nearly 200 countries pledged to avoid under the 2015 Paris climate agreement to mitigate the worst impacts of climate change. The joint record was marked by extreme weather events worldwide, including landslides and flash floods in Nepal and China's Tibet, wildfires from Indonesia to Greece and Belgium, and severe droughts in Hungary and Romania. August's average temperature of 16.96 degrees Celsius was 1.65 degrees Celsius higher than the 19th-century average. Samantha Burgess, a strategic lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, noted the tangible effects of climate change on daily life in Europe, such as roads melting and train lines buckling. While the world has not yet technically surpassed the Paris Agreement's 1.5 C target, which measures long-term average temperatures, the U.N. has warned that sticking to this goal is now unlikely. The UN urged governments to cut CO2 emissions more aggressively to prevent overshooting the target. The joint record also included the highest sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, driven by the formation of the El Nino weather pattern, which is expected to intensify in the coming months. This could further elevate global temperatures.",
  "summary": "BRUSSELS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - The world just experienced its joint-hottest month since records began, with August pushing the planet's average global temperature to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Thursday.",
  "key_points": [
    "August 2023 tied with July 2023 as hottest month on record",
    "Global average temperature surpassed 1.5-degree Celsius threshold",
    "Extreme weather events worldwide, including landslides and wildfires"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Repeatedly breaching the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold heightens pressure on governments to aggressively cut CO2 emissions, as the UN warns that sticking to the Paris Agreement goal is now unlikely.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}