--- title: August the Hottest in Recorded History, NASA Reports description: Global temperatures in August rose to their highest point in recorded history, according to new data released by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies on Monday. canonical: https://time.com/3386610/august-hot-weather/ author: Dan Kedmey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-16T13:33:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:12:23.097Z article:section: Science og:title: August the Hottest in Recorded History, NASA Reports og:description: Global temperatures in August rose to their highest point in recorded history, according to new data released by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies on Monday. og:url: https://time.com/3386610/august-hot-weather/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f1761ab167a3394/6986a374d0b6f2167630618e/swim-august-hot-weather.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Palestine Israel Beach Swimming og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: August the Hottest in Recorded History, NASA Reports twitter:description: Global temperatures in August rose to their highest point in recorded history, according to new data released by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies on Monday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8f1761ab167a3394/6986a374d0b6f2167630618e/swim-august-hot-weather.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Last Month Was the Hottest August in Recorded History  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 16, 2014 1:33 PM UTC  Palestinian children dump water on a boy as they swim on a beach, close to the divide with Israel, near Gaza City on Sept. 12, 2014. Palestinian children dump water on a boy as they swim on a beach, close to the divide with Israel, near Gaza City on Sept. 12, 2014.Mohammed Abed—AFP/Getty Images  by [Dan Kedmey](https://time.com/author/dan-kedmey/)  ## Dan Kedmey Sep 16, 2014 1:33 PM UTC Global temperatures in August climbed to their highest point in recorded history, according to new data [released](http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata%5Fv3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt) by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies on Monday. The data from NASA’s Global Land-Ocean Temperature Index shows global temperatures climbed 0.7 degrees Celsius above their average between 1951 and 1990, the highest recorded difference from the baseline since measurements began in 1880. NASA researchers did note, however, that August 2014 is at a “statistical tie” with several other steamy Augusts of the past decade, The Weather Channel [reports](http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/august-2014-hottest-history-20140915), suggesting that the heat — though unusually high — has a few precedents in recent history. 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