Iran may have recorded the world's hottest temperature
Digital Reporter
Friday, June 30, 2017, 6:06 PM - Is the temperature recorded in Ahvaz, Iran on June 29 one of hottest reliably recorded temperatures of all time?
On June 29, MeteoFrance meteorologist Etienne Kapikian tweeted that the city of Ahvaz, Iran had recorded the highest temperature ever recorded in the country, and the highest temperature ever recorded for June in Asia. The temperature that day was 53.7oC, Kapikian said.
According to Weather Underground, the daily maximum temperature in Ahvaz on June 29, was actually 54oC, with the humidity making it feel like a sweltering 61 before 5 p.m.
There is debate in the scientific community as to which “hottest temperature” recording is most reliable.
It was previously believed that absolute highest temperature recorded on earth was near 58oC in El Azizia, Libya, but the WMO Commission of Climatology rejected this assertion, based on issues with the methods used to record the data.
According to The Weather Underground, in 2012, Mitribah, Kuwait recorded a daytime high of 54oC. Additionally, the Iraqi city of Basrah reportedly reached 53.9oC in the same month.
In 1913, a high of 56.7oC was observed in Death Valley, California, but this data has been heavily contested, based on issues with how the recording was carried out.
If the heat recorded in Iran is verified, it would, arguably, become tied as the hottest reliable temperature ever recorded on Earth.
According to the World Meteorological Organization, the years 2011 to 2015 constituted the hottest five-year period in recorded history, on all continents but Africa.
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“The year 2015 was the first year in which global temperatures were more than 1oC about the pre-industrial area,” a 2016 WMO report reads.
Subsequently, the world’s oceans are also warming, which is causing sea-levels to rise globally. Studies have concluded that “increased ocean heat accounts for about 40% of the observed global sea-level increase over the past 60 years.”
Situated in west Asia, Iran’s climate ranges from arid to subtropical and the Summertime in Iran is historically hot and dry, with daily temperatures sometimes reaching 40oC.
