Map Shows States Hit With Above-Average Temperatures This Year - Newsweek

In a year marked by drought, relentless heat and mounting concerns about the return of El Niño conditions, new climate data offers a stark measure of how unusual 2026 has been. Across much of the United States, temperatures have climbed well above historical averages, with some cities from Wyoming to Arizona running more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than normal through August.

A Newsweek map based on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data through August shows that the largest temperature departures were concentrated across the Southwest, Rocky Mountains and Southern Plains, with Wyoming, Arizona and Texas emerging as some of the hardest-hit states.

NOAA has also reported that the contiguous United States experienced its warmest August and warmest meteorological summer on record, while drought expanded across large swaths of the country.

The map visualizes how far temperatures in each state have deviated from the 1991-2020 average this year. Newsweek ranked each state using the reporting city that recorded the largest temperature departure from normal in NOAA's data.

Wyoming ranked first, represented by the city of Lander, where temperatures were running 5.4 degrees above average through August. Arizona followed closely, with Phoenix recording temperatures 5.2 degrees above normal, while Texas ranked third after Amarillo logged a 5.2-degree anomaly.

The pattern was particularly pronounced across the interior West. Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Idaho all ranked among the 10 states with the largest departures from average temperatures, creating a belt of extreme warmth stretching from the Southwest into the Rocky Mountains.

By comparison, departures were generally smaller across the Northeast. Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine and New York were among the states closest to their long-term averages, though many still experienced warmer-than-normal conditions.

The unusually warm conditions have unfolded alongside the development of a "Super El Niño," which forecasters project could become one of the strongest such events in living memory. Experts say strong El Niño events can raise global temperatures and alter weather patterns around the world, influencing rainfall, drought, storm activity and more.

"I think that the unusually warm temperatures across the United States is related in part due to El Niño, but also in part due to the very warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic basin. Warmer water temperatures can help to add more heat to the planet overall, and as a result, a lot of times when we have El Niño years, world records for temperatures either get challenged or broken," AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva told Newsweek.

"This El Niño could absolutely impact temperatures as we head into the winter season. Many areas could see a very warm winter globally. However, it is important to note that while temperatures globally might be higher this winter, some areas could still be below average," he added.

For the contiguous United States, 2026 is already shaping up to be one of the hottest years ever recorded.

While NOAA has not yet declared 2026 the hottest full calendar year on record, as several months remain, the agency reported that January to August was the warmest such period in the 132-year record for the lower 48 states.

The summer months were particularly remarkable. August averaged 75.6 degrees across the contiguous United States, making it the warmest August on record. Meteorological summer, which runs from June through August, was also the hottest on record, surpassing previous records set in 1936 and 2021.

The extreme warmth has coincided with increasingly dry conditions across large swaths of the country. According to NOAA, drought covered 59.1 percent of the contiguous United States at the beginning of September, an increase of more than 10 percentage points from early August.

Record-breaking heat was widespread across the West, Southwest and southern Rockies. California, Nevada, New Mexico and Colorado each recorded their warmest August on record, while Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado posted their warmest summers on record.

With NOAA's September outlook favoring above-average temperatures across much of the country, 2026 remains on track to join the most exceptional warm years in modern U.S. recordkeeping.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Shakeema Edwards.