2026 Could Rank Among the Four Hottest Years on Record

2026 may become one of the four hottest years on record. Reuters reports this, citing a UN climate report drawing on data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Record changes have already taken place in the oceans: their temperatures in 2026 exceeded the previous year’s highs. At the same time, the global average sea level rose to a new record.

Scientists attribute rising sea levels to melting glaciers and ice sheets. Another factor is the expansion of seawater as it warms.

From January to September, the planet’s average temperature was 1.47°C above pre-industrial levels. This gap may widen in the coming months, as the powerful El Niño phenomenon affects global temperatures.

The WMO also points to a long-term trend: the last 12 years, including 2026, have been the warmest on record. This series of meteorological data goes back to around 1850.

The European Union’s Copernicus climate service predicts that 2026 will almost certainly be the second calendar year after 2024 in which the average temperature exceeds pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5°C. This temperature threshold is enshrined as a long-term benchmark in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

John Kennedy, head of the WMO‘s Climate Information division, explained that the main climate indicators are following a shared trend. Heat accumulating due to greenhouse gas emissions is affecting the entire climate system—from the atmosphere and oceans to ice cover and sea levels.

The updated data were presented ahead of the next round of international climate talks in Turkey, scheduled for November 9–20.

We previously reported:

• Global warming is no joke: the “Doomsday Glacier” could reach as far as southern Ukraine
• Southern Odesa Oblast could turn into a desert in just 25 years
• Global warming: the record-breaking summer of 2024
• 2023 will be record-hot, meteorologists predict
• Prepare the ark: Mykolaiv is among the cities that could be affected by global warming