Northern Hemisphere temperature at record high
Land temperatures are rising faster than ocean temperatures. The Northern Hemisphere is heating up faster than the Southern Hemisphere, since the Northern Hemisphere has more land. On August 1, 2026, a record high temperature of 22.4°C was reached in the Northern Hemisphere, 1.45°C higher than 1979-2000, as illustrated by the image below. The globe (inset) shows temperature anomalies versus 1991-2020 on August 1, 2026, with the Northern Hemisphere highlighted.
Land temperatures are rising faster than ocean temperatures. The Northern Hemisphere is heating up faster than the Southern Hemisphere, since the Northern Hemisphere has more land. On August 1, 2026, a record high temperature of 22.4°C was reached in the Northern Hemisphere, 1.45°C higher than 1979-2000, as illustrated by the image below. The globe (inset) shows temperature anomalies versus 1991-2020 on August 1, 2026, with the Northern Hemisphere highlighted.
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| [ click on images to enlarge ] |
The above anomalies are not calculated from pre-industrial. Another threshold is the wet-bulb temperature threshold, at which the human body can no longer cool down by sweating even in strong wind.
The image below shows a forecast for July 26, 2026, 21:00 UTC. The image shows a temperature of 122°F (50°C) at a location near Death Valley with a relative humidity of 9% resulting in a wet bulb globe temperature of 95°F (35°C). At the same time, a temperature of 116°F (47°C) with a relative humidity of 20% results in a wet bulb globe temperature of 97°F (36°C) at a location in the south of California.
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| [ Wet-bulb threshold crossed, image from earlier post ] |
The wet-bulb globe temperature is measured in direct sunlight, whereas the wet-bulb temperature is measured in the shade. The wet-bulb temperature threshold can be reached or exceeded by a combination of temperature and humidity, and it is the maximum, the absolute physiological limit, that a human can endure as a peak. It was long assumed that reaching such a limit would require a large increase in global temperature. However, a 2020 study (led by Raymond) warns that this limit could be regularly exceeded with a temperature rise of less than 2.5°C above pre-industrial. As the above image indicates, the wet bulb globe temperature limit can already be reached or even exceeded now.
Furthermore, a 2022 study (led by Vecellio) finds that the actual limit can be much lower — about 31°C wet-bulb or 87°F at 100% humidity — even for young, healthy subjects. The temperature for older populations, who are more vulnerable to heat, is likely even lower. In practice the limit will typically be lower and depending on circumstances could be as low as a wet-bulb temperature of 25°C.
Sea surface temperature at record high
As illustrated by the image below, from an earlier post, the world (60°S–60°N, 0–360°E) sea surface temperature was 21.2°C on August 5, 2026, a record high temperature and 0.99°C higher than 1982-2010 (which is not pre-industrial). The globe (inset bottom left) shows sea surface temperature anomalies versus 1991-2020 on August 5, 2026.
Ocean heat is getting pushed along the path of the Gulf Stream from the North Atlantic through the Fram Strait into the Arctic Ocean and - to a lesser extent - from the North Pacific through the Bering Strait into the Arctic Ocean.
The image below, from an earlier post, shows sea surface temperatures as high as 33.3°C (or 91.94°F) around North America on August 2, 2026. The image also illustrates geographic conditions facilitating the Gulf Stream to push ocean heat north in the Atlantic Ocean toward the Arctic.
The image below, from an earlier post, shows sea surface temperatures as high as 33.3°C (or 91.94°F) around North America on August 2, 2026. The image also illustrates geographic conditions facilitating the Gulf Stream to push ocean heat north in the Atlantic Ocean toward the Arctic.
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| [ Sea surface temperatures as high as 33.3°C, click on images to enlarge ] |
As temperatures at higher latitudes rise, the danger increases that a huge amount of warm, salty water suddenly gets pushed into the Arctic Ocean by a cyclone, destabilizing sediments at the seafloor and triggering eruptions of methane from hydrates. This danger has been discussed in many earlier posts such as this 2018 post.
Sea ice
On August 7, 2026, the global sea ice area was 2.24 million km² lower than 1981-2010, a deviation of -4.23σ, as illustrated by the image below The year 2026 is highlighted in black, the year 2025 in blue and the years 2023 and 2024 are highlighted in purple.
Conclusion
The situation is dire and unacceptably dangerous, and the precautionary principle necessitates the danger to be acknowledged, while facilitating rapid, comprehensive and effective action to reduce the damage and to improve the outlook, where needed in combination with a Climate Emergency Declaration, as described in posts such as in this 2022 post and this 2025 post, and as discussed in the Climate Plan group.
Links
• Climate Reanalyzer
https://climatereanalyzer.org
• NASA - Goddard Institute for Space Studies
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp
• Rising temperature threatens to devastate sea ice
• Climate Reanalyzer
https://climatereanalyzer.org
• NASA - Goddard Institute for Space Studies
https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp
• Rising temperature threatens to devastate sea ice
• Extreme heat danger
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2026/06/extreme-heat-danger.html
• Blue Ocean Event
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/blue-ocean-event.html
• Pre-industrial
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/pre-industrial.html
• Transforming Society
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2022/10/transforming-society.html
• Climate Plan
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/climateplan.html
• Climate Emergency Declaration
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/climate-emergency-declaration.html