Preliminary recordings show Death Valley, California on Sunday reached 130 degrees Fahrenheit or 54.4 degrees Celcius. If it is verified, it could possibly threaten the hottest temperatures ever reliably recorded in the world. Temperature records are a hotly contested, confusing business.
The hottest temperature on record is 56.7C, recorded at the same weather station as Sunday’s reading, Furnace Creek, dated back on July 7, 1913. But this old record is widely disputed.
Reported by the official temperature record website notes there may have been a sandstorm at the time which could have affected the reading.
The next highest temperature on the official record is 55.0C recorded in Tunisia back in 1931 if we ignore the 1913 Death Valley record, but this value is also widely considered questionable.
There are also few locations that are more reliably recorded at 54.0C which are at Furnace Creek on June 13, 2013, Mitribah in Kuwait on July 21, 2016, and Turbat in Pakistan on May 28, 2017.
When it is verified, Sunday’s 54.4C would beat out those more reputable values. The official verification from the World Meteorological Organisation can take up to years, so do not expect it too soon.
Even once on the list, it is up for review — as happened to the once-record 58.0C recorded in El Azizia in modern-day Libya back in 1922 which was struck off the official records following a review conducted by the World Meteorological Organisation in 2010 to 2012.
Australia’s highest official temperature that has been recorded is 50.7C, recorded at Oodnadatta Airport back on January 2, 1960.
These high temperatures are the latest record news to come out of a hot northern hemisphere summer which has so far included Arctic fires, widespread heatwaves, and now fires in California.
Source: ABC News