GoKawiilIf you sat around at any point this year and wondered why it felt so much hotter than normal, it’s because it actually was. According to a new report from NOAA, summer 2026 is the hottest on record, beating out the prior holders of the crown, a tie between 2021 and 1936.
Per NOAA, the average temperature across the continental US was 75.6 degrees Fahrenheit, with daytime maximum temperatures averaging out at 88.6 degrees. Both of those are the warmest since the beginning of recorded temperatures in the US. Most of this extra heat was concentrated in the southern and western portions of the US, while the Midwest, Great Lakes region and northeastern areas all saw near or slightly above average temperatures.
Some areas have it worse than others. Arizona had its second-hottest summer on record, trailing only 2024. However, the desert state still experienced an average of 97 degrees, with 39 days with temperatures over 110 degrees and 121 days over 100 degrees. The state is expected to add to those totals heading into the last couple of weeks of September.
Alaska and Hawaii weren’t left out of the party. Both of those states experienced their third-warmest summers on record.
To add insult to injury, nearly 60% of the country is also in drought conditions, according to the US Drought Monitor. NOAA says that the Ohio Valley and parts of the Midwest had good rain but virtually everywhere else received less rain than average. Somewhat ironically, two years ago, the script was flipped, and both of those regions were in drought conditions.
“Persistent heat domes and drought conditions were key factors in the widespread above-average temperatures observed during 2026,” Karin Gleason, chief of the monitoring section at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, told CNET in an email. Gleason says that the jet stream, which is the strong wind in Earth’s atmosphere that functionally dictates the weather, was skewed toward high pressure in the US, trapping heat and causing extended heat domes. Pair that with drought conditions, which allowed “solar energy to heat the dry ground and air more efficiently,” and you have the ingredients for one hot summer.
The unseasonable warmth is going to continue
Hurricane Lowell hit Ni’ihau and Kaua’i. It’s the first hurricane to directly hit Kaua’i since Hurricane Iniki in 1992. NOAA
Summertime heat is often oppressive, but it’s not the only season this year that is slated to have warmer-than-average temperatures. NOAA released another report showing that 2026’s El Niño is strengthening, and is 90% likely to continue doing so into winter 2026 to 27. That means the US — and many other parts of the Northern Hemisphere — are in for an unseasonably warm autumn and winter.
El Niño is a normal weather pattern caused by warmer-than-average conditions in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean every two to seven years and can last up to 18 months. However, the current one began forming in June and has risen to the rank of “super” El Niño, a media-only name that NOAA doesn’t use, which indicates that this year’s El Niño is reaching historic levels.
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