Hottest summer on record roasts Colorado, world, data shows

Lauren Penington, The Denver Post on Sep 10, 2026

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DENVER — Record-breaking temperatures hit the world this summer, marking Colorado’s most sweltering season and the globe’s hottest month on record, according to meteorological data.

Colorado averaged 69.4 degrees between June, July and August — meteorological summer — this year, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. That’s Colorado’s hottest average summer temperature on record, which dates back to 1895, according to the agency.

The previous record summer high of 68.7 degrees was set in 2012, NOAA data shows. That’s a 0.7-degree difference. On the other end, Colorado’s coolest summer on record is marked by a 61-degree average in 1915, according to NOAA.

This summer tied with 2024 for the hottest on record internationally, and August marked the world’s hottest month ever, according to a new report from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Average global temperatures reached 62.53 degrees, according to the report.

It was also the warmest summer and August on record for the contiguous United States, according to a NOAA report. The country averaged 74.4 degrees for the summer and 75.6 degrees for August, meteorologists stated in the report.

The United States’ previous summer record was 73.98 degrees in 1936, and the previous August record was 75.04 degrees in 1983, according to NOAA data.

“There’s no more room for doubt — the deaths and devastation we’ve witnessed in the past few months are the imprints of a planet on fire,” 350.org Executive Director Anne Jellema said in a statement. “Households already struggling with oil shocks are now being pushed past their limits in the face of climate disasters.”

The global organization 350.org campaigns internationally for climate action, including a shift to renewable energy. Its name is derived from the safe upper limit of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: 350 parts per million.

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