The air temperature of the aptly named Furnace Creek in Death Valley reaches a staggering average daily high of 115°F - making Death Valley the hottest place on Earth. For geological related readings, see, "Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth", "New analysis shreds claim that Death Valley recorded Earth's highest temperature in 1913", "World Meteorological Organization Assessment of the Purported World Record 58°C Temperature Extreme at El Azizia, Libya (13 September 1922)", "Doubts Cloud Death Valley's 100-year Heat Record", "Death Valley's 134F Record Temperature Study Part One", "Death Valley temperature rises to 54.4C – possibly the hottest ever reliably recorded", "Death Valley Just Recorded the Hottest Temperature on Earth", "Extreme Maximum Land Surface Temperatures", 10.1175/1520-0450(1992)031<1096:EMLST>2.0.CO;2, "How accurate are satellite measured temperatures of the troposphere? Even for heat-favored landscapes such as Death Valley, it is remarkable for temperatures to inch into such territory so late in the summer, when the sun is considerably lower in the sky than at the summer solstice in late June. Measuring temperatures reliably is tricky. The heat dome sees sunny skies and dry air sinking through the atmosp. A photo posted by the Park Service showed their thermometer to be even higher at 129F. It was so hot that the huge electronic temperature display (which serves as a ubiquitous selfie backdrop) went on the fritz. ", "Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth", "62°C Temperatures in Kuwait Cause Trees to Burst into Flames? Even higher temperatures often make the rounds in newspapers or social media. Los Angeles County recorded its highest-ever temperature Sunday as the weekend heat fanned wildfires across California and put additional strain on the state's power network. Yet without careful, consistent measurement, it will be all the more difficult to keep track of a changing climate as it careens through our lives. How can we be sure that the 130F reading really is the record-setter it appears to be? For example, Death Valley claims the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in 1913, at 134 degrees. WHAT MAKES A GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS TITLE? Although the official weather station in the area recorded 128F, a photo taken at the aptly named Furnace Creek Visitor Center read 129F. The same temperature was also recorded in Kuwait and Pakistan several years later. Last modified on Fri 21 Aug 2020 00.56 BST. A ground temperature of 84 °C (183 °F) was reportedly taken in Port Sudan, Sudan. Sunday's scorching high is part of a heatwave that is currently hovering over the Southwest of the country, but the 'heat dome' is expected to expand east and northwards later in the week. ", http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-toc&issn=1520-0493&volume=37&issue=7, "08 Jul 1949 - PORTUGAL IN'GRIP OF HEAT WAVE - Trove", "El lugar más caliente de la Tierra es Mexicali, Baja California", "Hace 50 años México registró la temperatura más alta de la historia", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Highest_temperature_recorded_on_Earth&oldid=987992204, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. This finding has since raised questions about the legitimacy of the 1913 record measured in Death Valley, with several meteorological experts asserting that there were similar irregularities with the 1913 readings. The 130F afternoon in Death Valley fits snugly in the “what next?” narrative of life in 2020. Amateur readings have also been done through social media that claimed extreme temperatures which were later discredited. The sun set on a lonely cactus in Death Valley in Southern California. Updated 1920 GMT (0320 HKT) February 7, 2020. “Humidity has its downsides too, but dry heat is also not fun.”. Court stated that "such a storm may have caused superheated surface materials to hit upon the temperature in the shelter. At 3:41 p.m. on Sunday, it lived up to that reputation when the temperature at the aptly named Furnace Creek reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the NOAA Weather Prediction center. The area stretches 1,700 miles from Southern California's deserts across to Panama City on the Florida Panhandle. Otto - Longest human tunnel travelled through by a skateboarding dog, Ashrita Furman - Most Guinness World Records titles held. Air measurements are noted by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and Guinness World Records among others as the standard to be used for determining the official record. [5] One of these was noted as early as 1949 by Dr. Arnold Court, who came to the conclusion that the temperature may have been the result of a sandstorm that occurred at the time. The current official highest registered air temperature on Earth is 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) recorded in Furnace Creek Ranch, California, located in the Death Valley desert in the United States, on 10 July 1913. All records listed on our website are current and up-to-date. According to weather records researcher Maximiliano Herrera, the previous global record high for August is 127.9F (53.3C), recorded in Mitribah, Kuwait, in 2011. Death Valley’s forbidding landscape registered a preliminary high temperature of 129.9F on 16 August. Omani town sets temperature record after one of the hottest days ever monitored, How to set or break a Guinness World Records title. Confirming a record temperature like this is not as simple as looking at a thermometer. United States () When. FREE SHIPPING THIS WEEK ON ORDER OVER 100$. All rights reserved. (You will need to register / login for access). This display in front of the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley showed a higher reading on Monday than the official measurement, which must be taken with a thermometer shielded and elevated according to meteorological standards. But it's not typical that the temperatures in Antarctica -- one of the coldest places on Earth -- are nearly the same as those in Southern California. The effects are perceptible. There are caveats. Death Valley's weather station recorded an official high temperature of 128F on Sunday afternoon. Such post-mortems typically involve double-checking the temperature sensor’s performance, evaluating the station and its landscape, and assessing nearby observations to make sure they support the case. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Burt and Herrera have called out similar issues with the Death Valley and Kebili readings from the 1910s and 1930s. Obviously, if any new materials on its surface, we will be prepared to open an investigation, but at this time all available evidence points to its legitimacy. Within two minutes, a heat burst reportedly drove the air temperature from 38 °C (100 °F) to 70 °C (158 °F). But because human-caused climate change is such a ubiquitous yet gradual process, it’s rarely at the top of the news. One of these was noted … The broiling temperatures in Death Valley are part of “a laundry list of atmospheric phenomena that have unfolded in very unusual or extreme ways,” Dr. Swain said, adding that they will only get worse in the coming decades. The official highest recorded temperature is now 56.7°C (134°F), which was measured on 10 July 1913 at … Baja California State Meteorologic Agency archives cite a newspaper note for San Luis, Sonora at 58.5 °C; on the same day, the local meteorological agency, using its own equipment, measured that same day a temperature for "El riito" community in Mexicali a top of. And all told, Antarctica's ice sheet contains enough water to raise global sea levels by nearly 200 feet, the WMO says. From 1922 until 2012, the WMO record for the highest official temperature on Earth was 57.8 °C (136.0 °F), registered on 13 September 1922, in ‘Aziziya, Libya.