The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😜
Main Topic: Summer a ‘Near Lock’ to Become Warmest and Most Humid Across U.S.
Dear Diary. Welcome to the first week of meteorological fall. Yesterday we delved into why the fall will more than likely be warmer than average. Today we look back on Summer 2026 and find that it most likely be pegged as the hottest summer on record for the lower 48 states…all thanks to our long term use of fossil fuels spewing excess carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
According to renowned climatologist Brian Bretschneider reporting from Alaska:
The Washington Post has picked up on Brent Brentscneider’s work. Here is their new report (For charts that I did not repost, hit the following link.):
Summer a ‘near lock’ to become warmest and most humid across U.S. – The Washington Post
Summer a ‘near lock’ to become warmest and most humid across U.S.
Average temperatures are on track to surpass the notoriously hot Dust Bowl summer of 1936.
August 31, 2026 at 6:00 a.m
A person cools off in a fountain in downtown Los Angeles. (Jae C. Hong/AP)
By Ben Noll
This summer has broken so many temperature records that each new one can feel almost routine.
But the biggest record of all may be about to fall.
Five out the 10 warmest summers on record in the contiguous United States have occurred in the past decade, pushed along by the tailwind of climate change.
And summer 2026 is on track to not only join that list but also to surpass the country’s average temperature record set during the notoriously hot Dust Bowl summer of 1936 — during a deadly, multiyear period of drought, dust storms and extreme heat that unfolded in the 1930s.
This year, average temperatures from June 1 to Aug. 29 have been around 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit above average across the contiguous states, nudging 2026 just beyond what was experienced in 1936 — and the highest, considering records dating back to 1895.
“Remember that summer 1936 was fairly cool globally, even by the standards of the day. There was one notable exception,” said Alaska-based climate scientist Brian Brettschneider, who described it as a “near lock” that summer 2026 in the contiguous U.S. would finish as the warmest on record.
Brettschneider also mentioned the scorching summer of 1976 in Britain — a benchmark against which hot, dry summers are measured there, including the current one — as an example of extreme regional heat that’s meaningful to the locals but that didn’t translate to extreme heat across the globe.
In the U.S., one of this summer’s most consequential trends unfolded while most people slept. Nighttime temperatures smashed records, reaching their highest levels — 2.37 degrees above average — across the U.S. as a whole, on track to beat the previous record set in 2021 by almost half a degree.
That’s important because warmer nighttime temperatures not only make it more challenging to sleep, but also to recover from the heat of the day.
Where summer was record warm or near-record warm
Where summer was record warm or near-record warm
(Bright red warmest on average) Average temperatures during summer 2026 were compared with historical readings from 1895-2025. Source: PRISM/Oregon State University
In addition to the nighttime temperature record, this summer is also expected to become the most humid summer on record, including in cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston and New Orleans.
That extra moisture in the air — which has flowed into the country from an unusually hot Gulf of Mexico and an El Niño-scorched Pacific Ocean — prevented temperatures from dipping lower at night.
Where summer humidity was record high or near-record high
(Dark green most humid on record) Humidity levels during summer 2026 were compared with historical humidity levels from 1895-2025.Source: PRISM/Oregon State University
As greenhouse gases continue to warm the planet, the atmosphere is becoming increasingly moisture-laden because warmer air can hold more water vapor.
Water vapor is itself a powerful greenhouse gas, so that added moisture reinforces the initial warming — creating a feedback loop between rising temperatures and a more moist atmosphere.
Comparing this summer with 1936
Agricultural machinery is buried under a mound of dust in Guymon, Oklahoma, in March 1936. (AP)
Although this summer is on track to break records for nationwide average temperatures, low temperatures and humidity, it is not expected to break records for high temperatures.
That’s where this summer falls short of the Dust Bowl.
This summer currently ranks 11th for high temperatures, with 1936 holding first place.
The higher humidity levels that are now fueling warmer nights may also be tempering daytime highs slightly. When the ground is moist, more of the sun’s energy goes into evaporation, leaving less available to heat the surface and the air above it.
During the 1930s, successive droughts — fueled partly by La Niña — collided with poor land-management practices that stripped away native grasses that had prevented soil from blowing away. The resulting dust and sand storms were relentless, blowing soil and blasting crops, further drying the land and intensifying the drought — creating a feedback loop. Walls of windblown topsoil, also called “black blizzards,” reached the East Coast and blew out over the Atlantic Ocean.
“A devastating drought held one-third of the Nation in its grip last week. A scorching sun shriveled crops, parched grass, killed cattle, and brought destitution to 100,000 persons in the Northwest wheat belt,” read an article titled “Drought, A New National Crisis,” published in The Washington Post on July 5, 1936.
With far less soil moisture available to evaporate, more of the sun’s energy went into heating the ground and the air above it.
That allowed temperatures to soar toward an incredible 120 degrees across the Plains and above 110 degrees in several other Central and Eastern states during the summer of 1936 — records that still stand today.
farmer in Hardin, Montana, in July 1936. (AP)
These extremes boosted the average national high temperature to 88.4 degrees during the summer of 1936, compared with 86.4 degrees in 2026.
Meanwhile, summer temperatures in Alaska were set to finish slightly below average, according to Brettschneider. In Hawaii, it has generally been warmer than average.
“The main factor to the overall warmth this summer in the contiguous U.S. is the same reason that the Earth will set a new global record this month. It’s not rocket science,” Brettschneider said.
Just as meteorological fall begins on Tuesday, temperatures and humidity are forecast to surge along the East Coast, with the Mid-Atlantic reaching well into the 90s.
In the Central and Eastern states, numerous nighttime temperature records are expected to fall during early September, continuing one of the season’s most profound trends.
Tuesday night could become D.C.’s warmest September night on record. The temperature isn’t forecast to drop below 80 degrees.
About this story
Data from June to August, also known as meteorological summer, was used in this analysis.
Temperature and humidity data used for national rankings was sourced from the Prism Group at Oregon State University. That data extends back to 1895. For 2026, data from June 1 to Aug. 29 was used.
Maps comparing summer temperatures in 2026 with 1936 were created using data from ECMWF, including the atmospheric reanalysis products ERA5 and CERA-20C. In those maps, temperatures were compared with 1981-2010 averages. For 2026, data from June 1 to Aug. 24 was used
Here are more “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is More Climate News from Tuesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)