World: Highest Temperature | World Meteorological Organization's World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive (2024)

World: Highest Temperature

Record Value56.7°C (134°F)
Date of Record10 /7 [July] / 1913
Formal WMO ReviewYes (2010-2012)
Length of Record1911-present
InstrumentationRegulation Weather Bureau thermometer shelter using maximum thermometer graduated to 135°F
Geospatial LocationFurnace Creek Ranch, CA, USA [formerly Greenland Ranch], [36°27'N, 116°51'W, elevation: -54.6m (-179ft)]

References

Court, 1949: How hot is Death Valley? Geographical Review, 39, pp. 214-220;World Meteorological Organization Assessment of the Purported World Record 58ºC Temperature Extreme at El Azizia, Libya (13 September 1922), K. El Fadli, R.S. Cerveny, C.C. Burt, P. Eden, D. Parker, M. Brunet, T.C. Peterson, G. Mordacchini, V. Pelino, P. Bessemoulin, J.L. Stella, F. Driouech, M.M Abdel wahab, M.B. Pace, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00093.1

Discussion

After examining the temperature record in detail, Court noted that this temperature may be the result of a sandstorm that occurred at the time. Such a storm may have caused superheated surface materials to hit upon the temperature in the shelter.

Previous record of 58C recorded at El Azizia Libya was reviewed (2010-2012) by a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Commission of Climatology (CCl) special international panel of meteorological experts conducted an in-depth investigation of the long-held world-record temperature extreme of 58ºC (136.4 ºF). That temperature (often cited by numerous sources as the highest surface temperature for the planet) was recorded at El Azizia (approximately 40 kilometers south-southwest of Tripoli) in what is now modern-day Libya on 13 September 1922.

The investigating committee (including experts from Libya, Italy, Spain, Egypt, France, Morocco, Argentina, United States, and United Kingdom) identified five major concerns with the 1922 El Azizia temperature extreme record, specifically (a) problematical instrumentation, (b) a likely inexperienced observer, (c) an observation site which was not representative of the desert surroundings, (d) poor matching of the extreme to other nearby locations and (e) poor matching to subsequent temperatures recorded at the site. The WMO evaluation committee concluded the most compelling scenario for the 1922 event was that a new and inexperienced observer, not trained in the use of an unsuitable replacement instrument that could be easily misread, inproperly recorded the observation and was consequently in error by about seven degrees Celsius. Based on these concerns, the WMO CCl World Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes has rejected the 58ºC temperature extreme measured at El Azizia in 1922.

Panel evaluation is published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.

Images

World: Highest Temperature | World Meteorological Organization's World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive (1)

Photograph of old Greenland Ranch Station, California, USA

World: Highest Temperature | World Meteorological Organization's World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive (2)

Closeup Satellite Image of modern Furnace Creek Ranch, California, USA

World: Highest Temperature | World Meteorological Organization's World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive (3)

Regional Satellite Image of modern Furnace Creek Ranch, California, USA

World: Highest Temperature | World Meteorological Organization's World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive (2024)

FAQs

World: Highest Temperature | World Meteorological Organization's World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive? ›

The WMO assessment is that the highest recorded surface temperature of 56.7°C (134°F) was measured on 10 July 1913 at Greenland Ranch (Death Valley), California. A 1933 instrument catalog image of the Bellani-six-style thermometer.

What is the highest weather temperature ever recorded in the world? ›

The current official highest registered air temperature on Earth is 56.7 °C (134.1 °F), recorded on 10 July 1913 at Furnace Creek Ranch, in Death Valley in the United States.

What is the hottest place on Earth ever recorded? ›

The hottest place on Earth is Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California (USA), where a temperature of 56.7°C (134°F) was recorded on 10 July 1913. In summer months, Death Valley has an average daily high of 45°C (113°F). This is only the air temperature, with surface heat much higher.

What is the weather and climate extremes archive? ›

The WMO World Weather and Climate Extremes Archive is a living source of information and provides historical and geographical perspectives of observed limits of extreme weather and climate events.

Is 2024 the hottest year on record? ›

Hausfather estimates a 66% chance that 2024 will be the hottest year on record, and a 99% chance it will be the second hottest. The current best estimate is it will come in at just above 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels, he said.

What is the highest human temperature ever recorded? ›

The highest reported core body temperature in a patient who survived without permanent residual deficits was 46.5°C (115.7°F). This 52-year-old patient suffered from environmental heatstroke, possibly exacerbated by ethanol consumption.

Which climate archive gives the longest records? ›

The longest-running temperature record is the Central England temperature data series, which starts in 1659. The longest-running quasi-global records start in 1850. For temperature measurements in the upper atmosphere a variety of methods can be used.

In what city is the world's largest archive of climate data 1? ›

NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), located in Asheville, North Carolina, maintains the world's largest climate data archive and provides climatological services and data to every sector of the United States economy and to users worldwide.

How far back do climate records go? ›

When scientists focus on climate from before the past 100-150 years, they use records from physical, chemical, and biological materials preserved within the geologic record. The Earth holds climate clues dating back over three billion years, contained in rock layers, polar ice sheets, lake beds, and more.

Which was the hottest year in human history? ›

Details. The year 2023 was the warmest year since global records began in 1850 at 1.18°C (2.12°F) above the 20th-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F). This value is 0.15°C (0.27°F) more than the previous record set in 2016. The 10 warmest years in the 174-year record have all occurred during the last decade (2014–2023).

Why is the weather so weird in 2024 in the USA? ›

The strange El Niño of 2023-24

The combination led to weather extremes unseen since perhaps the 1870s. La Niña cools the tropics but stores warm water in the western Pacific. It also warms the middle latitude oceans by weakening the winds and allowing more sunshine through.

Will Texas summer 2024 be hot? ›

Summer of 2024 could be a repeat of summer 2023, which was the hottest in more than 2,000 years for the Northern Hemisphere, a new study of tree rings found. The summer forecast hasn't just grown hotter over the last month, but it's also grown drier.

What is the hottest temperature ever recorded on any planet? ›

According to NOAA, Death Valley holds the record for the world's highest surface air temperature ever recorded on Earth: 134°F (56.7°C) observed at Furnace Creek (Greenland Ranch), California, on July 10, 1913.

What is the hottest temperature ever recorded in the universe? ›

The highest temperature ever recorded in the universe was achieved by experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The LHC experiment created a temperature of 9.9 trillion degrees Fahrenheit, which is more than 366,000 times hotter than the center of the Sun.

What is the highest weather temperature a human can survive? ›

Externally, the upper limit of the human body's thermoneutral zone—the ambient temperature range in which the body can maintain effectively maintain its temperature and equilibrium—likely falls somewhere between 104 and 122 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a 2021 study published in Physiology Report.

What is the hottest thing on Earth? ›

The highest controlled temperature reached on earth is 2 billion Celsius in the Z machine at Sandia National Lab. If you consider a proton beam an object, then the large hadron collider at CERN gets above 5 trillion Celsius. Robert C. The hottest natural object on Earth is the Earth's inner core.

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