Highest recorded temperature on Earth

On 13 September 2012, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) disqualified the record for the highest recorded temperature, exactly 90 years after it had been established at El Azizia, Libya, with a measurement of 58°C (136.4°F). The official highest recorded temperature is now 56.7°C (134°F), which was measured on 10 July 1913 at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California, USA.

The WMO concluded that the El Azizia record measurement could be inaccurate by as much as 7°C due to a combination of factors including the asphalt-like surface over which the measurement was taken, which is not a fair representation of the native desert soil.

Some climatologists have also cast doubt on the veracity of the 1913 Death Valley temperature reading. 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. This was essentially equalled the following year by a reading of 130°F (54.4°C), also at Furnace Creek Visitor Centre, on 9 July 2021, though again this is still awaiting ratification by meteorological experts.

Death Valley also holds the record for hottest month in a single location: between 1 and 31 July 2018, the average daily temperature was 108.1°F (42.3°C) based on readings taken at the Furnace Creek weather station.

The highest recorded temperature in continental Europe is 48.8°C (119.8°F), registered on the Italian island of Sicily on 11 August 2021, as confirmed by the WMO on 30 January 2024. The previous record for continental Europe - 48.0 °C (118.4°F) - was registered on 10 July 1977 in the Greek cities of Athens and Elefsina.

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