Jump directly to the content

Where is the hottest place on Earth and what’s the highest temperature on record?

WHILE the UK is experiencing some high temperatures this week, how does the British summer compare to the hottest place in the world?

But where is it and what is the highest temperature ever recorded on earth? Here's the info on the places that are quite simply too hot to handle.

 Death Valley is officially the hottest place on Earth
Death Valley is officially the hottest place on EarthCredit: Alamy

Where is the hottest place in the world?

El Azizia, Libya

Once believed to hold the title when a temperature of 58C was recorded in 1922 although meteorologists have since declared this invalid.

The town in the Jafara district still regularly gets temperatures of over 48C.

Here are the top ten places which have recorded the highest temperatures.

Death Valley, California, USA

The desert valley hit 56.7C in the summer of 1913 at Furnace Creek Ranch.

But July 2018 saw the hottest month on record for the famously scorching location.

The average daily temperature throughout the month was 42.3C.

Death Valley station at the National Park Service Visitor’s Center reported a world record monthly temperature of 41.8C in 2017.

In 2018 a new all-time monthly average of 42.3C was recorded at Death Valley's Furnace Creek Visitor Center - surpassing the record set a year ago by half a degree.

That previous mark had broken a record that stood for 100 years.

El Azizia, Libya

Dallol, Ethiopia

Between 1960 and 1966 it averaged a daily temperature of 41C meaning it has the highest average temperature of any inhabited place on Earth.


Wadi Halfa, Sudan

The hottest temperature recorded in the city near the shores of Lake Nubia hit 53C in April 1967.

Dasht-e Loot, Iran

Satellite measurements taken between 2003 and 2009 recorded a maximum temperature of 70.7C.

Tirat Zvi, Israel

A temperature of 54C was recorded in 1942.

The average temperature is still a sweltering 37C.

Timbuktu, Mali

This city is located on the southern edge of the Sahara and is about eight miles north of the Niger River.

The hottest temperature recorded there io 49C.

Kebili, Tunisia

The highest on record is 55C and average temperatures are 40+C in the summer.

Ghadames, Libya

The Unesco World Heritage site averages highs of 40C and a temperature of 55C has been recorded.

Bandar-e Mahshahr, Iran

According to the heat index - which combines air temperature and relative humidity - the city holds the second highest ever measurement of 74C in July 2015.

The highest temperature recorded there is 51C.

 Temperatures in the Sahara desert regularly exceed 40C
Temperatures in the Sahara desert regularly exceed 40CCredit: Alamy

How hot are Death Valley and the Sahara desert?

Death Valley this year had its hottest month on record in July 2018 with the average temperature of 42.28C.

The previous record had been set in Death Valley in July 2017, when the average was 41.89C.

The national park in the Mojave Desert rarely sees wind and water as the valley, which is 86 metres below sea level, is also surrounded by mountain ranges, so any air that does reach it quickly heats up.

Death Valley is in the northern Mojave Desert and holds the highest recorded temperature of 56.7C.

The air temperature of the aptly named Furnace Creek in Death Valley reaches a staggering average daily high of 46C - making Death Valley the hottest place on Earth..

The coldest temperature recorded there is -10C on January 10, 1913.

The Sahara annual average temperature is 30C but can regularly exceed 40C in the hottest months.

What's the hottest place in Europe?

The hottest temperature ever recorded in Europe was in Athens, Greece, on July 10, 1977, when the mercury rose to 48C.

This summer Europe has experienced an extreme heatwave, with France breaking its record, which now sits at 45.9C.

The heatwave of June 2019 engulfed countries including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium the Czech Republic and Poland.

A new record high of 45.9C was measured in the southern town of Gallargues-le-Montueux, in the south-east.

The previous record was 44.1C registered near Narbonne during the summer 2003 heatwave where a staggering 15,000 people died from illnesses related to the heat.

Hundreds of firefighters battled to contain wildfires raging in southern France.

Scores of fires razed 600 hectares (1,500 acres), destroying several homes and vehicles, in the Gard region, said emergency services.

The World Meteorological Organisation said this week that 2019 was on track to be among the world's hottest years, and 2015-2019 would be the hottest five-year period on record.
It said the European heatwave was "absolutely consistent" with extremes linked to the impact of greenhouse gas emissions.

What is the highest temperature on record?

El Azizia in Libya recorded the highest temperature in the desert of 58C in 1922 but this has since been disqualified.

The official highest recorded temperature is now 56.7°C (134°F), which was measured on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch, Death Valley, California.

It is the current holder of the Guinness World Record for highest recorded temperature.
