Hot enough for ya? Ridiculously so, sez Scientific American!

 

Map and headline:  Scientific American, 10/2/2026

Jackie Lynn Morgensen reports:

It’s been a blistering year for the U.S. The first eight months of 2026 were the hottest such period ever recorded in the contiguous U.S. since at least 1895. That puts 2026 on track to being among the hottest years the country has ever seen—if not the hottest. 

Whether or not this year takes the top slot in that bleak ranking is still unclear. But the outlook isn’t good, climate scientists say. 

Right now where 2026 will clock in is a matter of probability. The hottest year the contiguous U.S. has ever recorded was in 2024, at 55.48 degrees Fahrenheit (about 13 degrees Celsius) on average, explains Zeke Hausfather, a climatologist and a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Seventh Assessment Report. 

We’re likely set to break that record, he says: January–August 2026 clocked in at 57.98 degrees F (14.43 degrees C) on average, 0.08 degrees F (about 0.04 degrees C) above the previous record of 57.90 degrees F (14.39 degrees C) for that period, which was set in 2012, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. [emphasis added[

Related posts:

October 2026

Hot enough for ya?  It's like that from sea to shining sea!  (10/1)

September 2026

Hot enough for ya? Withered vegetation during drought causes pronghorn sheep to starve to death in Wyoming.  (9/30)

Hot enough for ya? Just ask folks who got their electricity shut off this summer!  (9/30)

Hot enough for ya?  Just ask the Tennessee Valley Authority!  (9/27)

Hot enough for ya?  Republicans in Congress say, 'Live with it, fuckwads!'  (9/26)

Hot enough for ya?  500,000 might not be around to say so next February!  (9/26)

Hot enough for ya? Just asks anyone who spent time at a British unairconditioned hospital this summer!  (9/25)

Hot enough for ya?  Just ask the Philadelphia Eagles coach!  (9/24)

Hot enough for ya?  It's too hot for pumpkins in Utah!  (9/22)

Hot enough for ya?  El Paso residents think so!  (9/22)

Hot enough for ya?  If not, El Nino has more in store!  (9/22)

Hot enough for ya?  Probably if you live in the West!  (9/21)

Hot enough for ya?  Dallas-Fort Worth metro area sets record for most 100-degree days in September.  (9/16)

Hot enough for ya?  It was the hottest summer ever in the USA.  (9/16)

Hot enough for ya?  It was a record hot August.  (9/9)

Hot enough for ya?  Residents of Gulf Coast in Florida think so!  (9/8)

Hot enough for ya?  Folks in Albuquerque think so!  (9/8)

August 16-31, 2026

Hot enough for ya?  Even Phoenix Arizona residents say, "HELL YEAH!!".  (8/27)

Hot enough for ya?  World's oceans hit hottest temperature ever!  (8/25)

Extreme heat is killing England's oldest trees.  (8/23)

Miami residents think so!  (8/20)

Oklahoma City residents think so!  (8/20)

Too hot for Champagne grapes in France.  (8/16)

August 11-15, 2026

In Europe this summer, suffering up, deaths up.  (8/15)

South Korea records highest temperature ever! (8/15)

United Kingdom has its hottest day of the day during 5th heat wave of summer.  (8/14)

Just ask the families of hundreds of workers who have died from the heat!  (8/14)

Unbearable the 5th time around in Europe.  (8/13)

Too hot for thousands of cattle in South Dakota!  (8/13)

Extreme weather puts Pakistan's red chile pepper farmers at risk.  (8/12)

World's average sea surface temperature sets heat record for July! (8/11)

United States experiences hottest July ever.  (8/11)

Western Europe sets a temperature record.  (8/11)

August 1-10, 2026

Climate crisis:  Extreme weather drying up Europe's rivers.  (8/8)

Enough already! say sweltering Italians.  (8/7)

 Austria and Slovakia swelter in record-setting heat.  (8/7)

South Koreans swelter in record-breaking heat!.  (8/7)

Too hot as far as Great Plains feedlot and cow calf operators are concerned!  (8/6)

Hot enough for ya?  Millions of Western US residents likely think so!  (8/4)

Too hot as far as Hungary's only nuclear power plant is concerned! (8/4)

Too hot, as far as 3 lions in a Tokyo zoo are concerned!  (8/4)

July 2026

All you need to read to put the scope of the Bordeaux wildfire in France in perspective.  (7/29)

Western states get a taste of their own wildfire smoke.  (7/29)

Heat dome puts Western and Central United States on broil.  (7/28)

Earth on fire:  Spain and France wildfires edition.  (7/28)

Even the coldest places in the world are experiencing record heat.  (7/27)

Scorching heat wave breaks daily temperature record in Phoenix.  (7?26)

It's a warming world (scooping water from the Seine edition).  (7/19)

Extreme heat kills.  (7/18)

Montana heat wave:  Billings and Miles City set all-time high-temperature records. (7/14)

Salt Lake City his all-time record with a high temperature of 109.  (7/13)

Welcome to Our Warming World: Boundary Waters Minnesota edition.  (7/13)

Unprecedented heat wave kills millions of chickens in France. (7/10)

Western Europe experiences its hottest-ever June.  (7/10)

May-June 2026

Unprecedented European heat wave.  (6/27)

What climate change feels like in the Dadu district of Pakistan.  (6/13)

Climate change turned up the heat on Planet Earth (May 2026 worldwide edition).  (6/11)

50 -- count 'em! -- 50 cities in India were the world's hottest spots on April 27, 2026.  (5/12)

April 2026

If right-wing parties gain control, then Europe will only get hotter (b/w Looney Tunes at the Heartland Institute).  (4/30)

Climate change forces  cities to use plastic instead of ice in new skating rink.  (4/12)

Lack of snowpack in western states raises concerns of drought and wildfires this summer.  (4/10)

United States experiences its hottest March ever.  (4/9)

Record heat puts Arctic sea ice at lowest recorded winter level.  (4/4)

2026 Southwest U.S. heat wave joins list of "most astonishing weather events" of 21st century.  (4/4)

Wyoming experiences its warmest winter in its recorded history then gets hit with a blinding spring blizzard.  (4/4)

Denver experiences its hottest March ever, breaking 14 records in the process.  (4/2)

March 2026

United States weather:  9 states experience record-warm winter, 0 states experience record cold winter.  (3/21)

Historic, unprecedented, extreme, record-smashing heat wave envelopes Western United States.  (3/21)

Hong Kong joins the list of 2025-2026 winter weather hot spots.  (3/4)

It was a extremely wet and hot summer in Australia.  (3/4)

Add Denver to the list of Western cities that experienced one of its warmest Februarys.  (3/2)

HOT HOT HOT:  Las Vegas records its warmest winter ever.  (3/3)

And the heat just keeps on comin' in Phoenix Arizona.  (3/3)

February 2026

Boogying our way to doomsday in a climate denier administration:  Phoenix Arizona is experiencing its hottest winter ever.  (2/28)

Southern Hemisphere is HOT HOT HOT.  (2/12)

Much of the rest of the world broiled while residents of Europe and North America froze their asses off.  (2/11)

Alaskans in Anchorage are having a heat wave.  A record heat wave!  (2/7)

Warmest December ever in Phoenix, Arizona:  2025.  (2/6)

They're having a heat wave in Greenland.  A record heat wave!  (2/6)

Australians just lived through their 4th hottest January on record.  (2/3)

January 2026

While the United States shivers, it's hotter than hell in Australia.  (1/31)

Climate change as a matter of fact:  That's why it's called "extreme weather".  (1/29)