Hottest places

On an annual-mean basis, with readings taken over a six-year period from 1960 to 1966, the temperature at Dallol, Ethiopia, was 34ºC (94ºF); based on the same data-set, the average daily maximum temperature was 41.1ºC (106ºF). In Death Valley, California, USA, maximum temperatures of over 49ºC (120ºF) were recorded on 43 consecutive days, between 6 July and 17 August 1917, while in July 2018, Furnace Creek in Death Valley attained an average daily temperature of 108.1ºF (42.3­ºC) making it the hottest month in a single location. At Makkah (aka Mecca) in Saudi Arabia, 227 consecutive days with maximum temperatures of 37.8ºC (100ºF) or higher were recorded between 31 March and 12 November 2010. At Matam in north-east Senegal, the temperature reached 32.2ºC (90ºF) or higher on 355 days (non-consecutive) in 2019.

Death Valley is currently recognized as the location of the highest temperature on record, with a reading of 56.7°C (134°F) made at Greenland Ranch on 10 July 1913. It gained this all-time temperature title on 13 September 2012 after the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) disqualified the erstwhile record of 58°C (136.4°F) documented in El Azizia, Libya, exactly 90 years after it had been established. However, some doubts have also been cast around the veracity of the 1913 Death Valley temperature. At 3:41 p.m. PDT on 16 August 2020, a peak of 129.9°F (54.4°C) was registered at Furnace Creek Visitor Centre in Death Valley, the data of which is currently being scrutinized by the WMO for ratification. If confirmed to be accurate, this will likely be recognized as the highest reliably measured temperature on record.

At the other end of the scale, the lowest recorded temperature on Earth is -89.2°C (-128.6°F), logged at Russia's Vostok research station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983, during the southern hemisphere winter.