SCORCHED EARTH

Death Valley’s 130 Degree Temperature Could Be Hottest Ever Reliably Recorded

Two other higher readings dating back more than eighty years are seen as having credibility issues.

The mercury in Death Valley, California, surged to a searing 130 degrees on Sunday afternoon, and meteorologists think that the reading may set a new world record for the highest temperature ever reliably recorded on the planet. If verified, the reading would break Death Valley’s previous August record by three degrees, the National Weather Service tweeted. “Everything I’ve seen so far indicates that is a legitimate observation,” Randy Cerveny, who leads the World Meteorological Organization’s weather and climate extremes team, wrote. “I am recommending that the World Meteorological Organization preliminarily accept the observation.” Death Valley holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, which is 134 degrees. However, this record was set on July 10, 1913 and is seen as of doubtful legitimacy by some experts. A 131-degree reading was taken in Kebili, Tunisia, on July 7, 1931, but scientists say that measurement also has “credibility issues.”