Natural Environment Blog

If you ever wondered where the hottest place on earth is, try this.

• On 13 September 1922, Al ‘Aziziyah in Libya reached an amazing 57.7 degrees Celsius (that’s 135.9 Fahrenheit!). Libya is a country in the northern part of the African continent.
• Death Valley, California, U.S.A is not far behind - with a temperature of 56.7 degrees Celsius (134.0 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded on 10 July, 1913.

Hottest places in other continents include:

• Asia’s hottest place is Tirat Tzvi, Israel (then part of the British Mandate of Palestine) at 53.9 degrees Celsius (129 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded on 21 June 1942.
• Oodnadatta in South Australia is Australia’s hottest place with 50.7 degrees Celsius (123.3 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded on 2 January 1960.
• Hottest place in Europe was Seville, Sevilla (province), Spain with 50.0 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) on 4 August 1881
• Rivadavia, Argentina recorded 48.9 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) on 11 December 1905
• Awatere Valley and Rangiora, New Zealand was Oceania’s hottest place with 42.4 degrees Celsius (108.3 degrees Fahrenheit) on 7 February 1973
• And if you ever wondered how hot it gets in antarctica, try 14.6 degrees Celsius (58.3 degrees Fahrenheit) at Vanda Station on 5 January 1974

It’s interesting that with the recent urgency of global warming, that there isn’t a more recent record. In reality, there are probably hotter temperatures around the world occurring on a regular basis, it’s just that we aren’t there to record it.

There’s no doubt things are warming up on planet earth.

Here are the top 10 hottest years on record:

• 1998 - 32.94 degrees Fahrenheit (0.52 degrees Celsius)
• 2005 - 32.86 degrees Fahrenheit (0.48 degrees Celsius)
• 2003 - 32.83 degrees Fahrenheit (0.46 degrees Celsius)
• 2002 - 32.83 degrees Fahrenheit (0.46 degrees Celsius)
• 2004 - 32.77 degrees Fahrenheit (0.43 degrees Celsius)
• 2006 - 32.76 degrees Fahrenheit (0.42 degrees Celsius)
• 2007 - 32.74 degrees Fahrenheit (0.41 degrees Celsius)
• 2001 - 32.72 degrees Fahrenheit (0.40 degrees Celsius)
• 1997 - 32.65 degrees Fahrenheit (0.36 degrees Celsius)
• 1995 - 32.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.28 degrees Celsius)

These are global figures and are based on average temperatures.

I think most people would agree that the big question of “is global warming really happening?” has now been answered. And the other big question I think is becoming a little outdated (”are humans really responsible”?).

I think relevant questions would go along the lines of “is global warming a good thing?”. And, “if it’s not a good thing, what can we do to change this?”.