In the Heat of the Night Trivia Quiz

Place names do not get any more ominous than Death Valley! Indeed, the desert valley in eastern California, in the northern part of the Mojave Desert, has acquired the well-deserved reputation of hottest place on Earth during the summer months. Its location at -69 m (-226 ft) below sea level is definitely a primary factor in Death Valley's extreme climate.

The aptly-named Furnace Creek - a village that hosts the headquarters, museum and visitor centre of Death Valley National Park - is known for record-bustingly high summer temperatures, which include the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth as of 31 December 2024. On 10 July 1913, the temperature in Furnace Creek reached a staggering 134 °F (56.7 °C). Though some experts dispute this statistic on the basis of supposedly inaccurate measurements, the record has been officially accepted by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization). This scorching temperature was the climax of a string of abnormally hot days.

Other records scored by Death Valley include the most consecutive days above 49º C (120º F) - 43 days (6 July - 17 August) in 1917, and the hottest single month - July 2018, with an average temperature of 42.3 °C (108.1 °F).

For 90 years, a blisteringly hot temperature of 58 °C (136.4 °F) recorded in the town of 'Aziziya in northwestern Libya on 13 September 1922 held official status as the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. However, after having conducted an in-depth investigation, in 2012 the WMO invalidated the record because of major concerns about both the instrumentation and the methodology used to assess the temperature. In particular, the weather station was set up on black tarmac, whose sunlight-absorbing surface would have made the surrounding air artificially hotter.

Despite having lost the designation as the world's hottest place, 'Aziziya records high summer temperatures on a regular basis due to the ghibli, a hot wind blowing north from the Sahara Desert. However, the location of the town - near the Mediterranean Sea, and in a region with a semi-arid rather than a full desert climate - was itself cause for doubt regarding the authenticity of the reading.

Located in the Danakil Desert, in the Afar Region of northern Ethiopia, Dallol is now described as a ghost town. A remote place set in the Afar Depression, one of the world's lowest-lying areas, Dallol is one of the most inhospitable places on Earth, receiving very little rainfall, and recording extremely hot year-round temperatures. When the record of highest average temperature for an inhabited place was set - 34.6 °C (94.3 °F) between 1960 and 1966 - Dallol was still functioning as a mining town for potash and salt. 60 years later, the record still stands, though other locations in Africa and Asia have come close to matching it.

The extreme hot desert climate found in Dallol is due to a combination of factors, such as the low elevation of the area, its extreme aridity and the proximity to the Red Sea, with its high average water temperature. The average high temperature in Dallol is a scorching 41.2 °C (106.1 °F) - with an average high of 46.7 °C (116.1 °F) during the hottest month, typically between May and September.

The town of Marble Bar lies at the centre of the Pilbara region of northwestern Western Australia, characterized by its red earth and rich mineral deposits. The area, which was settled in the late 19th century, is also known for its extremely hot, arid climate. The world record for most consecutive days above 37.8 °C (100 °F) was set between 31 October 1923 and 7 April 1924 - a period of 160 days. Even if this record dates from over 100 years ago, Marble Bar's challenging climate conditions have not changed - on the contrary. December and January are the hottest months, with temperatures in excess of 45 °C (113 °F) a regular occurrence. Even during the winter short bursts of heat up to 35 °C (95 °F) are not uncommon.

Surprising as it may sound, Marble Bar is not the hottest place in Australia. This rather questionable honour goes to Wyndham, in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia, with its annual average high temperature of 35.6 °C (96.1 °F). Unlike Marble Bar, however, Wyndham - being located on the coast - has a hot semi-arid climate rather than a desert one, and its wet season is characterized by high humidity and abundant rainfall.

In 1972, singer-songwriter Albert Hammond had a hit with a song titled "It Never Rains in Southern California". Indeed, in the part of Southeast California where the city of Needles is located rain is a very rare occurrence. Needles lies in the Mojave Desert, which entails very low annual rainfall - about 110 mm (4.32 in) of rain in normal circumstances. However, the North American Monsoon (also known as Southwest or Mexican Monsoon) often brings violent thunderstorms that resemble those occurring in the Caribbean. During one of such occurrences, on 13 August 2012, the hottest temperature during rainfall was recorded - an astonishing 46 ºC (115 ºF). Because of the low humidity (11%), the rain evaporated almost immediately, leaving only a trace in the rain gauge.

Another similar rain event took place in Imperial, also in Southeast California, near the Mexican border, on 24 July 2018. During a thunderstorm on one of the hottest days in California history, a temperature of 48.3 °C (118.9 °F) was recorded. According to one resident, being out during that event felt extremely uncomfortable, and was hard on the heart. However, the record was immediately questioned by experts, and Imperial's record-hot rainfall was eventually expunged from official records.

The area surrounding the Persian Gulf is known for scorching summer temperatures coupled with high humidity levels - which makes everyday life uncomfortable for its residents, unless they have access to air conditioning. Located in eastern Saudi Arabia, a short distance from the western coast of the Persian Gulf, the city of Dhahran enjoys mild winters: summers, however, are sweltering, with average highs of 32 ºC (89.6 ºF) between May and September, and a record high of 51.1 °C (124 °F) during the month of July. On 8 July 2003 Dhahran set a rather unenviable world record for highest dew point temperature - 35°C (95°F) with a dry-bulb air temperature of 42°C (108°F), resulting in a total heat index (what is known in layman's terms as "feels like") of 81.1°C (178°F).

The Iranian cities of Jask and Bandar-e Mashar, on the eastern coast of the Persian Gulf, have also made the news for extreme heat events. In particular, On July 31, 2015, Jask observed a temperature of 39.0 °C (102.2 °F) degrees with a dew point of 33.0 °C (91.4 °F), leading to a heat index of 69 °C (156 °F).

A number of places in the world (including, not surprisingly, Death Valley) have laid claim to having recorded the hottest land surface temperature. However, the desert known as Dasht-e Lut, a vast expanse of wind-sculpted rocks, sand dunes and salt flats located in eastern Iran, has regularly recorded staggeringly high ground surface temperatures - particularly in its central plateau, covered in dark volcanic rock, whose Persian name translates as "toasted wheat". As there are no permanent weather stations in this extremely inhospitable place, measurements have been conducted by a sensor called MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) installed on NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites.

An examination of global MODIS measurements dating from 2003 to 2009 revealed that the Lut Desert had recorded the world's highest surface temperatures in five out of those seven years: in particular, the 2005 reading of 70.7 °C (159.3 °F) is regarded as the single highest land surface temperature ever recorded. In more recent years (2019), a reading of 80.83 °C (177.49 °F), based on newer MODIS data, has been reported by some authors. Claims of even higher ground surface temperatures - notably a reading of 93.9°C (201.0°F) in Death Valley in July 1972 - remain unverified.

The town of Khasab in Oman is located at the tip of the Musandam Peninsula, in the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman. The Gulf region is known for its hot desert climate, which is made even more stifling during the summer by the high humidity caused by the evaporation of the shallow, warm waters of the Gulf. Because of its unique location, Khasab is a prime spot for heat-related records. On 17 June 2017, Khasab Airport's weather station recorded the highest night-time low temperature in history - a blazing 44.2 °C (111.6 °F), which broke the former record of 43.3 °C (110 °F) set in July 1918 in Death Valley. According to some sources, this record overnight heat was fuelled by a foehn-like wind blowing from the mountains that surround the town.

Khasab (which, in spite of its climate, is a popular tourist destination) also held the world record for highest temperature on a single calendar day - 41.2 °C (106.2 °F) recorded on 27 June 2011 - until it was broken by Death Valley the following year, and then by another Omani town, Qurayyat, in 2018.

Most people would never associate Canada - in particular the western province of British Columbia, known for its mountains, forests and scenic Pacific coastline - with high temperature records. However, the village of Lytton, in the interior of southern BC, has long had the distinction of being Canada's hottest spot, in spite of its location slightly north of the 50th parallel. Unusually for such a latitude, Lytton's climate has been described as an inland hot-summer Mediterranean climate or dry-summer continental climate - both of which are usually found further south. Indeed, dry conditions contribute to the hot weather often experienced by Lytton during the summer months.

However, the temperature recorded on 29 June 2021 - during a heat wave that affected much of western North America from late June to mid-July - would be considered extreme even at much more southerly latitudes. The 49.6 °C (121.3 °F) reading of that day not only broke the previous Canadian record, but also that of highest temperature ever recorded north of the 45th parallel. On the other hand, winters can get very cold in Lytton, with temperatures occasionally falling below -30 ºC (86 ºF).

Located in the Sakha Republic, in the Russian Far East, at a latitude of 67º N, the town of Verkhoyansk is a place of climate extremes, experiencing one of the greatest differences on Earth between summer and winter temperatures. It vies with Oymyakon (also in the Sakha Republic, but south of the Arctic Circle) for the title of Northern Pole of Cold, with a lowest recorded temperature of −67.8 °C (−90.0 °F) recorded in January 1885, and an average temperature of −44.7 °C (−48.5 °F) during the winter months.

While Verkhoyansk's average annual temperature is a rather frigid −13.7 °C (7.3 °F), during its short summer season temperatures of 30 °C (86 °F) are not uncommon. However, on 20 June 2020 records were broken with a reading of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) - the highest temperature ever recorded north of the Arctic Circle - also yielding an astonishing temperature range of 105.8 °C (190.4 °F), the largest in the world. Verkhoyansk's extreme climate - classified as Kõppen Dsd, or extremely cold, dry-summer subarctic climate - is due to a combination of factors, notably the prevalence of high pressure for much of the year, which also affects the amount of precipitation the town receives.