Re: Death Valley hit 130F (preliminary) Sunday
Posted by
Chris in Tampa on 8/17/2020, 3:24 am
Sometimes the Washington Post articles don't let you read them. I will include this part here as it probably explains some of why it has been worded in various ways.
Death Valley famously holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, which is 134 degrees. This record was set on July 10, 1913. However, that measurement is very much in question; an extensive analysis of that record conducted in 2016 by Christopher Burt, an expert on extreme weather data, concluded it was "essentially not possible from a meteorological perspective."
Some climatologists consider 129-degree readings recorded in Death Valley on June 30, 2013, and in Kuwait and Pakistan in 2016 and 2017, respectively, as the highest ever reliably measured on the planet. If only those readings are considered, then Sunday's 130-degree temperature would unseat them as the highest measured.
As it stands, if Sunday's 130-degree reading is confirmed, it would be the world's highest temperature officially recorded since 1931, and the third-highest since 1873. The only two higher measurements include the disputed 1913 Death Valley reading and a 131-degree reading from Kebili, Tunisia, set July 7, 1931, which is considered to be Africa's hottest temperature. But the Tunisia mark also has "serious credibility issues," according to Burt.
This might be the highest temperature ever reliably recorded in the world. The two readings higher than this in the world, one of those at Death Valley, may be inaccurate. By saying since 1913, NOAA didn't have to get into those details. Since they were talking about the highest since 1913 at Death Valley, they weren't specifically talking about in the entire world so they didn't mention the 1931 reading.
For more on heat records, you can see some here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records#Highest_temperatures_ever_recorded
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highest_temperature_recorded_on_Earth |
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