The Earth is pretty hospitable as far as things go but its climate does get extremely hot in certain locations.
Excessive heat can be very dangerous, even for the healthiest individuals among us, and when our bodies can no longer cool themselves by increasing our heart rates and sweating heavily, we begin to overheat and dehydrate – which can be fatal.
The temperatures in this list really are extreme and very, very few living organisms can tolerate them. Here are some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded on our planet.
Pakistan
In 2010, Pakistan recorded one of the highest temperatures in the world but also the hottest reliably measured temperature ever recorded in Asia at 128.3 °F or 53.5 °C.
However, this record was matched in May 2017, when extraordinarily hot air moved across parts of Iran and Pakistan, forming a heat dome of high-pressured air. Air was forced downwards towards the surface by this highly pressured weather system in the atmosphere, which allowed for strong Compressional Heating, whereby air is compressed in place at ground levels instead of warm air being blown in. The air kept conducting heat from the ground that had been roasting from the Sun in clear blue skies.
Records broken across the Middle-east and Europe included a highest temperature of 128.3 degrees Fahrenheit or 53.5 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in the Western Pakistani town of Turbat.
As the heat moved towards Europe, Norway experienced a record-breaking temperature with a high of 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32.2 degrees Celsius at Tinnsjø on May 27, and Austria had a high of 95 degrees Fahrenheit or 35.0 degrees Celsius at Horn on May 31.
Kuwait
The Middle-eastern climate is famous for its scorching temperatures. It happens due to its arid environment, relatively low exposure to coastlines, and low-lying land where air can flow over with ease.
One of its hottest areas is Sulaibiya, which is a distant suburb of Kuwait city and features the largest tire graveyard in the world, consisting of approximately seven billion used tires, some of which have melted under the intense heat!
The population is scarce in the area and no wonder – it holds the record for the joint hottest place in Asia with a max temperature of 128.5 Fahrenheit or 53.6 Celsius in July of 2012. There is some discrepancy in the records, though, as a temperature of 127.9 Fahrenheit or 53.3 degrees Celsius at Mitribah has been suggested as the highest most-accurate temperature in Asia.
Either way, there is a very small percentage of humans that can tolerate such epic heat and these sparsely populated and highly inhospitable areas play host to just a tiny amount of highly-adapted animals and insects. Humans may even be in danger as the extreme heat gets worse.
A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change in 2016 cautioned that by 2090, due to climate change, temperatures may become too hot for human survival.
Israel
The Middle-east tends to dominate many temperature records and Israel is certainly no exception. Tirat Tsvi lies west of the Jordan-Israel border and sits 220 meters or 700 feet below sea level, forming a heat sink which regularly causes temperatures to soar well above 40 degrees.
Its temperature record occurred in 1942, when the town recorded a temperature of 129 Fahrenheit or 53.9 degrees Celsius. This would be the hottest temperature in Asia but thermometers were not so accurate back then and skeptical meteorologists claim that thermograph data indicates a temperature that was more like 127.4 Fahrenheit or 53 degrees Celsius.
Interestingly, the area is not devoid of plant life and it does enjoy some agricultural success with the assistance of modern plant hydration technology.
Iran
Iran is an extremely dry and hot country for the most part. Sandwiched between the subtropical aridity of the Arabian desert and the subtropical humidity of the eastern Mediterranean area, it regularly experiences super-high temperatures of well above 105 Fahrenheit or 40 degrees Celsius throughout its summer months.
It hits its temperature record in the city of Ahvaz which soared to 128.7 degrees Fahrenheit or 53.7 degrees Celsius. If the numbers are accurate, it’s just shy of the hottest temperature recorded anywhere on Earth.
Timbuktu, Mali
Temperature records only edge up slightly when you get to this point and as readings grow ever closer, accuracy becomes ever-more important. Mali’s Saharan proximity gives it roasting summers with highly contrasting winters that reach well below freezing.
Throughout its ancient cities lies Araouane, which is a small Saharan village near Timbuktu, and the desert surrounding it is completely desolate, barren, and dry with just a wind named ‘the Harmattan‘ blowing sand in from the Sahara.
In 1945, the temperature is suggested to have risen to an extreme 54.4 Celsius in the summer month of July. Timbuktu itself, world-renowned for being “in the middle of nowhere”, regularly sees average highs of 108 degrees, even in the colder months. However, In the summer, temperatures nearing 130.1 Fahrenheit or 54.5 Celsius have been recorded.
Kebili, Tunisia
Tunisia has the Mediterranean sea to the north, with hot, humid air, and desert in its inland areas. To the north, the Mediterranean air brings some relief to the usually-hot climate. Therefore, north Tunisia is a popular tourist destination.
The further south you go, however, the drier things become. In the center of the country, you’ll find Kebili, which is actually considered an oasis for those wanting to escape the African heat, providing you go there in the right month. It’s rather picturesque and features rolling dunes with palm trees and plenty of arid rock formations.
Despite its oasis-like feel, you won’t get much respite from the heat at all during the summer months. Things are worse in the hottest months from May to July when the average high is around 107.6 Fahrenheit or 42 Celsius.
Kebili has seen temperatures well into the 50s, though. During the 1940s, temperatures reportedly soared to a whopping 131 Fahrenheit or 55.0 Celsius. Such data is contested in the modern era but reliable measurements of 125.6 Fahrenheit or 52 Celsius have been made.
