Summer 2026 was the hottest ever recorded in San Marino since 1951, the year from which the historical records of the San Marino Meteorological Centre (Centro Meteorologico Sammarinese) begin. At the weather station in Città, the average temperature between June and August reached 25 degrees Celsius, well above the 24.4 degrees recorded in the summer of 2003, which had previously held the record.
According to data compiled by the San Marino Meteorological Centre, the anomaly compared to the 1991-2020 climate average was +3.2 degrees. Particularly striking was the number of extremely hot days: in San Marino Città, 45 days reached at least 30 degrees, compared to an average of just 12. The highest temperature, 34.3 degrees, was recorded on 7 August. Nights with temperatures above 20 degrees were also unusually frequent: 57, compared to the usual 33.
The exceptional heat was accompanied by a severe shortage of rainfall. Over the three summer months, only 79 millimetres of rain fell in Città, compared to the 155 normally expected, making summer 2026 the tenth driest in the past 71 years. The shortfall affected the entire Republic fairly evenly: across the territory, an average of 88 millimetres fell, compared to 168 in a typical summer — just 53% of expected rainfall.
The situation was made even more delicate by the fact that spring had also been particularly dry. The six-month SPI drought index fell to -1.48, indicating moderate drought conditions. By the end of August, moreover, the reserve of usable water in the soil had dropped to just 8% of capacity — a figure that reflects the effects of months marked by high temperatures and insufficient rainfall.
