Here Are Earth's Hottest Temperatures Measured, According To Reliable Records

M​any of the hottest air temperatures recorded on Earth are in one infamous U.S. national park, but some of the planet's most searing heat has been measured in parts of Asia and the Middle East.

1​34 degrees, officially: According to the World Meteorological Organization, which keeps track of official records such as temperature, wind and rainfall, the record hottest air temperature measured anywhere on Earth was 134 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913.

B​ut there is an asterisk. As weather historian Christopher Burt explained in an interview, that record is suspect.

S​o, what's the real world record, then? In that same July 1913 event, Death Valley also recorded a high of 131 degrees on July 13. Given that the 134-degree high is suspect, that also calls into question the high recorded three days later.

On July 26, 1931, Kebili, Tunisia, reportedly recorded a high of 55 degrees Celsius, or 131 degrees Fahrenheit. However, in an email to weather.com, Burt wrote that "nothing (is) known about the provenance of this figure."

T​hat leaves the next hottest temperature as, once again, Death Valley, where it reached 130 degrees both in July 2021 and also August 2020, when rounding that August temperature up for official record-keeping.

U​nlike the 1913 readings, these temperatures were measured by an automated temperature sensor at Furnace Creek. It's rated to measure temperatures up to 158 degrees to an accuracy of 0.018 degrees and is regularly maintained, according to the National Weather Service in Las Vegas, which has forecast responsibility for Death Valley National Park.

Death Valley shows up six more times on that list. That includes a reading of 129 degrees from an observing station on the far southern end of Death Valley - Saratoga Spring - on July 16, 2023.

(​MORE: Why Death Valley's Heat Is So Extreme)

The other locations are in a swath of the Middle East from Kuwait to Iran and Pakistan. Two of those happened in the same heat wave just one day apart in late July 2016.

A​ll of those temperatures are generally within a degree of each other.

T​hese are the hottest reliable temperatures on each continent, courtesy of world temperature records guru Maximiliano Herrera and the World Meteorological Organization:

Africa: Ouargla, Algeria: 124.3 degrees Fahrenheit (51.3 degrees Celsius) on July 5, 2018

Antarctica: Signy Research Station: 67.6 degrees Fahrenheit (19.8 degrees Celsius) on Jan. 30, 1982

Asia: Mitribah, Kuwait: 129 degrees Fahrenheit (53.9 degrees Celsius) on July 21, 2016

Australia, Oceania: Oodnadatta, Australia: 123.3 degrees Fahrenheit (50.7 degrees Celsius) on Jan. 13, 2022, and Jan. 2, 1960

Europe: Siracusa, Italy: 119.8 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius) on Aug. 11, 2021​

North America: Death Valley, California: 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius) on July 9, 2021

South America: Campo Gallo, Argentina: 117.1 degrees Fahrenheit (47.3 degrees Celsius) on Oct. 16, 1936​

E​ditor's note: This article was updated to reflect the latest 129-degree high in Death Valley on July 16, 2023, as well as a previously omitted high in Basra, Iraq, in 2016.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

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