Two national heat records in one federal release
NOAA calculated an August 2026 average temperature of 75.6°F for the contiguous United States, 3.5°F above the twentieth-century average and the hottest August in the 132-year record beginning in 1895.
The June–August average was 74.4°F, 3.0°F above average and the hottest meteorological summer in the same record. It exceeded the previous records, set in 1936 and 2021, by 0.4°F.
Drought covered 59.1% of the contiguous country on September 1, more than ten percentage points above early August. The release therefore documents concurrent national heat and expanding drought, not merely an isolated monthly record.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| August average | 75.6°F |
| August departure | +3.5°F |
| Summer average | 74.4°F |
| Summer departure | +3.0°F |
| Drought coverage, Sept. 1 | 59.1% |
National averages do not describe every place
A contiguous-U.S. average can coexist with cooler conditions in some regions. NOAA’s map and state rankings, not the national figure alone, should guide local conclusions. The drought percentage also depends on the monitoring date and classification method.
This analysis establishes the rank, departures and month-to-month drought expansion from the federal record. It does not attribute the entire event to a single cause or forecast how long the conditions persisted after September 1.