

GFS weather model analysis of maximum temperatures in the Middle East Thursday afternoon. (WeatherBell.com)

(This post, originally posted on June 29, was updated on July 3.)

A city in southwest Iran posted the country’s hottest temperature ever recorded Thursday afternoon, and came very close to the world record for the most extreme high temperature.

Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at French meteorological agency MeteoFrance, posted to Twitter that the city of Ahvaz soared to “53.7°C” (128.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Kapikian said the temperature is a “new absolute national record of reliable Iranian heat” and that it was the hottest temperature ever recorded in June over mainland Asia. Iran’s previous hottest temperature was 127.4.

This reading, if verified, fell just short of the hottest temperature ever measured on Earth in modern times of 129.2 degrees (54.0 Celsius).

Christopher Burt, a weather historian for Weather Underground, has exhaustively analyzed world temperature extremes and determined the 129.2 degree readings posted in Mitribah, Kuwait on July 21, 2016, and Death Valley, Calif., on June 30, 2013, are the hottest credible temperature measurements that exist in modern records.

Officially, Death Valley set the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth on July 10, 1913, soaring to 134 degrees (57 Celsius). But Burt posted a devastating critique of that measurement in October 2016, concluding it was “essentially not possible from a meteorological perspective,” and that the weather observer committed errors.

For the 128.7 degree-reading Ahvaz posted on Weather Underground to stand and rank among the highest observed world temperatures, it will require review by the World Meteorological Organization.

The scorching temperature reading was brought about by a dome of heat centered over the Middle East.

The excessively hot air over Ahvaz, a city of 1.1 million people, felt even more stifling due to high humidity. As the temperature climbed into the high 120s, the dew point, a measure of humidity, peaked in the low 70s; a high level for the desert location (due to moist air flow from the Persian Gulf, to the south). The heat index — a measure of how hot it feels factoring in the humidity — exceeded 140 degrees. This combination of heat and humidity was so extreme that it was beyond levels the heat index was designed to compute.

In the Persian Gulf city of Jask, Iran, about 800 miles southeast of Ahvaz, the humidity was even more suffocating. The dew point on Wednesday morning hit 91.4 degrees. Dew points above 90 are quite rare. The highest dew point ever measured on Earth is 95 degrees (35 Celsius), set at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on July 8, 2003.

Thursday marked the second straight day of record heat in Ahvaz. On Wednesday, it hit 127.2 degrees (52.9 Celsius), breaking the record for Iran’s hottest June temperature, only to be exceeded the next day.

These Iranian temperature extremes come just a month after several locations in the Middle East recorded their hottest May temperatures during another exceptional heat wave.

On May 28, the western Pakistani town of Turbat hit 128.3 degrees (53.5 Celsius), tying the all-time highest temperature in that country and the world record temperature for May, according to Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters.

At the same time Masters reported that at the military base of Konarak in eastern Iran, the temperature reached 127 degrees, “destroying the record of the highest temperature ever recorded in May in Iran (50.5°C in Bostan in May 1999).”

All of these record-breaking temperatures in recent years, including Thursday’s reading in Ahvaz as well as those set in Kuwait and Death Valley in 2016 and 2013, represent temperature extremes consistent with what climate scientists expect to see in a warming world.

The National Academy of Sciences published a report in 2016 that said worsening heat waves are among the weather events that can be most easily connected to human-caused climate change.

A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change in 2015 cautioned that by the end of the century, due to climate change, temperatures in the Middle East may become too hot for human survival.

Correction, July 3, 2017: The original version of this post said Ahvaz may have tied the world-record high temperature of 129.2 degrees based on an observation posted on the Weather Underground website. It turns out Weather Underground rounds temperatures in Celsius up to the nearest degree, which artificially increased the actual high of 53.7 Celsius (128.7 Fahrenheit) to 54 degrees (129.2 Fahrenheit). This post has been corrected to note that real high was 128.7 degrees (53.7 Celsius) – which is 0.5 degrees lower than the highest observed world temperature in modern times of 129.2 degrees.</s>A city in Iran recorded what may possibly be the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, when the city of Ahvaz clocked in at 127.4 degrees Fahrenheit (53.0C), and may have even climbed as high as 129.2F (54.0C). If those readings are accurate, they would completely shatter the previous record for the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

As The Independent reports, there’s some ambiguity about the hottest temperature ever recorded, as well as how hot it actually got in Ahvaz, for several reasons. Mostly, it has to do with the accuracy of the measuring equipment in use at the time, as well as the credibility of the person reporting.

Nevertheless, French meteorologist Etienne Kapikian posted on Twitter that Ahvaz had topped the mercury out at “53.7°C” (128.7 degrees Fahrenheit). However, weather-tracking website The Weather Underground reported that Ahvaz got as hot as 129.2 degrees at both 4:51 and 5 pm local time. By way of comparison, today the high temp on Ahvaz, a city of about a million people, was a comparatively cool 108F.

If the literally searing heat weren’t enough, the people of Ahvaz are sweltering under a blanket of stifling humidity: thanks to hot, humid air blowing in from the Persian Gulf, the heat index — a measure of how hot the temperature feels on human skin when humidity is considered — exceeded 140 degrees

You probably learned in junior high school science class that the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at California’s Death Valley, on July 10, 1913, when the temperature soared to 134F (57C). That was accepted as gospel by schoolchildren for generations; but in 2016, weather historian Christopher Burt wrote a paper that concluded that such a temperature was scientifically impossible, and chalked it up to reporting errors and/or imprecise equipment.

Meanwhile, the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth, and which is generally accepted as scientific fact, was 129.2F (54C), recorded at Mitribah, Kuwait on July 21, 2016, and again at Death Valley, Calif., on June 30, 2013. That means that if Weather Underground’s claims of the high temperature at Ahvaz, Iran are correct, that record has been tied.</s>Forecasters from Weather Underground indicated the temperature climbed to 129.2°F (54°C) twice in the city on Thursday, setting possibly a new world record for hottest temperature. Coupled with stifling humidity, the heat index said the city’s temperature actually felt like it was exceeding 140°F. Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at French meteorological agency MeteoFrance, said the mercury soared to 128.6°F (53.7°C).

He said the temperature is a “new absolute national record of reliable Iranian heat” and hottest ever recorded in June over mainland Asia. If the 129.2°F is accurate, weather historians say it will tie for the hottest temperature ever measured on Earth in recent times.

The World Meteorological Organisation is expected to review the reading to determine if Ahvaz matched the highest modern global temperature. Christopher Burt, a weather historian from Weather Underground, said Mitribah, Kuwait hit 129.2°F on July 21, 2016 as did Death Valley, California on June 20, 2013. The scorching weather in Iran comes as a dome of heat centres itself over the Middle East. Ahvaz has been forced to contend with stifling conditions with its 1.1 million residents also battling with high humidity.

According to reports the heat was so extreme it went beyond levels the heat index is designed to compute. The city is in the middle of a heatwave after temperature hit 127.2°F (52.9°C) on Wednesday. Rocketing temperatures in the Middle East have seen several regions record their hottest May temperatures this year. Turban in Pakistan recorded 128.3°F (53.5°C) on May 28, according to Weather Underground setting a world record temperature for May.</s>Temperatures in Iran have reached 129F (53.7C) making it the hottest day in the country's history and one of the highest ever in the world.

The scorching conditions were recorded in the city of Ahvaz in Iran's south west on Thursday, according to a French meteorologist.

It was a June record for Asia and came close to the world record 134F (56.6C) measured in Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913.

The extreme high temperatures were highlighted by Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist with the French national weather service Meteo France.

Kapikian said the mercury climbed to 53.7C - eclipsing Iran's previous high of 53C.

According to USA Today, the heat index, which takes humidity into account, was even higher reaching 142F (61.1C)

Temperatures in the region are forecast to dip to below 117F (47C) today.

But the mercury is due to rise above 122F (50C) again next week.

The temperature was recorded days after a study warned nearly a third of the world's population is currently exposed to potentially deadly heat for 20 days a year or more - a problem exacerbated by climate change.

Analysis in Nature Climate Change said failure to reduce greenhouse gases could see three in four people facing the threat of dying from heat by 2100.</s>The hottest weather on Earth is something of an unknown. Temperatures can only be measured in places that have thermometers and thermometers are not everywhere. The hottest temperature recorded and accepted as valid by the meteorological community is the 134 degrees in Death Valley, Calif., recorded July 10, 1913. But that record is under suspicion as none of the nearby weather stations recorded extraordinarily hot weather that day. If the 134-degree record is disallowed, the world record will become 129 degrees, which has been recorded at Death Valley on three separate occasions. On Thursday, the city of Ahvaz, Iran, recorded 129 degrees. If the Ahvaz temperature passes muster and the 134 reading from Death Valley is dropped, there will be at least two places tied for having the world's hottest recorded temperatures.</s>WASHINGTON — The temperature in the Iranian city of Ahvaz climbed Thursday to a blistering 129 degrees, a record high for the Middle Eastern country and among the hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth.

Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist with French weather service Meteo France, posted to Twitter that the temperature officially reached 53.7 degrees Celsius, or 128.7 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also the hottest recorded June temperature in Asia, according to Kapikian.

The previous record high in Iran was 127.4, set in 2011 and tied in August 2014.

As The Washington Post first noted, Weather Underground’s website listed the high temperature in Ahvaz on Thursday as 129.2 degrees. With humidity, the heat index reached an astounding 142.1 degrees Fahrenheit.

The incredible temperature comes less than two weeks after Khasab, Oman, a city located on the Persian Gulf, set a global record for “hottest overnight low temperature,” according to Weather Underground. On the morning of June 17, the temperature there dropped to a low of 111.6 degrees.

The World Meteorological Organization officially lists Earth’s all-time high temperature as 134 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in 1913 in Death Valley, California. But that record has been the subject of much debate.

Weather Underground weather historian Christopher Burt lists the “hottest reliably measured temperature on Earth” at 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in Death Valley in June 2013 and Mitribah, Kuwait, in July 2016.

Climate scientists warn that extreme heat will continue to worsen as human activity drives global climate change. In January, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed 2016 as the hottest year on record, marking the third consecutive year of record-high global temperatures.

A recent University of Hawaii study found that without global action to reverse the climate crisis, 3 in 4 people on the planet could be exposed to deadly heat waves by 2100. And even with aggressive emission reductions, up to 48 percent of the global population will likely be plagued by at least 20 days of lethal heat per year by the end of the century.

Last week, extreme heat scorched the U.S. Southwest. In Death Valley, the temperature soared to 127 degrees. And in Phoenix, American Airlines canceled flights as temperatures edged toward 120 degrees — beyond the point that certain types of commercial aircraft can function.</s>There's hot, and then there's 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit hot.

Ahvaz, Iran, which is a city of 1.1 million people in the country's southwest desert region, appears to have set not only Iran's hottest temperature on record Thursday, but also set a record for June heat in all of mainland Asia. It also may have tied the all-time global heat record.

A temperature reading of 53.7 degrees Celsius, or 128.7 degrees Fahrenheit, was reported in Ahvaz by Etienne Kapikian, a meteorologist at MeteoFrance. Kapikian posted a tweet saying that level of heat was a “new absolute national record of reliable Iranian heat” and that it was the hottest temperature ever recorded in June across mainland Asia.

Iran’s previous hottest temperature was 127.4 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Weather Underground, the temperature Kapikian cited was not actually the highest reading that Ahvaz reached on Thursday.

At 4:51 p.m. local time, Weather Underground’s website showed the temperature in Ahvaz climbed to 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit, with a heat index at an almost unimaginably hot 142.1 degrees. If verified, this would tie the all-time heat record for anywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere.

As the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog points out, if further investigation proves that the 129.2-degree reading is accurate, "... It would arguably tie the hottest temperature ever reliably measured on Earth."

Christopher Burt, a weather historian for Weather Underground, has found that two 129.2-degree Fahrenheit readings are likely the hottest reliably recorded temperatures worldwide. One of these records was set just last year in nearby Mitribah, Kuwait.

The World Meteorological Organization, a U.N. agency, will need to review the 129.2-degree reading to determine if the thermometer used was reliable, and validate the all-time Iranian record as well as the mainland Asia record.

Officially, though, the hottest temperature on Earth was set in Death Valley, California, on July 10, 1913, when the temperature hit 134 degrees Fahrenheit. Burt, along with other experts, has criticized that reading, noting that nearby locations did not get anywhere near as hot on that day, and the 134-degree mark may have been due to an observer error.

Global warming has dramatically elevated the odds of heat extremes in many parts of the world. A study published in 2015 found that if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically curtailed in the next few decades, parts of the Middle East will become too hot for the human body to tolerate, thereby cutting economic output.

An analysis published Thursday by the research and journalism organization Climate Central found that global warming made a recent heat wave in western Europe, which contributed to deadly wildfires in Portugal, up to 10 times more likely than it would have been without human emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane.</s>A temperature of 129 degrees was reached in Iran Thursday, which is one of the Earth's hottest temperatures ever recorded.</s>Iran broke the record for Asia’s highest temperature ever recorded during June yesterday. It was a scorching 53.7 degrees Celsius. The previous June record in Iran was 53 degrees.

And if that wasn’t enough, the heat index, which factors in humidity, hit a whopping 61 degrees. Amazingly, if you only measured by heat index, the Iranian city of Bandar Mahshahr actually felt hotter than Ahvaz yesterday, hitting 73.8 degrees, while maintaining a lower actual temperature of 46.1 degrees.

As USA Today notes, the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth was back in 1913 when Death Valley, California hit 56.6 degrees. Last year, 2016, was the hottest year on record for our planet. Meanwhile, the Trump regime is eliminating 1,200 jobs at the EPA, and the president himself has called climate change a “hoax” invented by the Chinese.

Weather is not climate, but blistering heat is one of the predictable outcomes of humanity’s contribution to global climate change. So while a dumbass congressman brings snow into the US government to “prove” climate change is a hoax, maybe we can ship these guys off to Iran in the summer.

You know who is taking climate change seriously? The US military. In a video released this week, the US Navy emphasised to former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that climate change poses a threat to national security.

“Governor, [Naval Station Norfolk] is the second most vulnerable area, next to New Orleans, in terms of the sea level rise,” Rear Admiral Jack Scorby told Schwarzenegger in Virginia, according to Task and Purpose. “Right now, our best estimate is approximately a two-foot rise by the year 2050.”

The video emphasises that at least 18 US Navy bases are at serious risk for flooding. As Schwarzenegger emphasises, we’re not talking about “50 years from now, but today.”

Climate change is happening, whether you believe in it or not. Both in Iran and elsewhere. [Washington Post and USA Today and Task and Purpose]</s>The city of Ahvaz in Iran has set what could be a truly astonishing record this week by recording one of the hottest temperatures on Earth.

According to Weather Underground and French meteorologist Etienne Kapikian, the city reached a staggering 128.7 degrees making it by far the highest recorded temperature in Iran and potentially one of the highest ever recorded on Earth.

While those figures might sound almost suffocating the city’s 1.1m inhabitants would have actually felt even hotter as the heat index (which takes humidity into account) reached a whopping 142 degrees.

Iran and the middle-east weren’t the only places to experience soaring temperatures. In fact Europe, and in particular the UK suffered from a major heatwave culminating in Wednesday’s recorded spike of 94.1 degrees at London’s Heathrow Airport.

While we all love a scorching hot summer, scientists believe these record figures can only be attributed to one underlying factor, and sadly it is manmade.

Researchers from the World Weather Attribution believe that the data they’re seeing is consistent with human-caused climate change.

“We found clear and strong links between this month’s record warmth and human-caused climate change,” said Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, senior researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI).

Friederike Otto, a senior researcher at Oxford University adds: “This extreme event attribution analysis makes clear that European heat waves have become more frequent, and in the South of Europe at least 10 times more frequent.”

Otto went on to say that it was ‘critical’ that scientists and public health experts should start talking to cities about how they can implement heat action plans as these spikes become more frequent.

To make matters worse, a team of eminent climate scientists recently published a report which gave national governments just three years to start tackling climate change or it will quite simply be too late.

While meeting the Paris Agreement targets are going to be incredibly difficult, experts argue that inaction will be almost immeasurably more harmful than the transitionary process to try and reach those goals.

Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation and a signatory on the article, said: “2020 is a hard deadline. There’s no turning back if we don’t bend the emissions curve within three years...there are no jobs on a dead planet.”
A temperature of 53.7°C (128.7°F) is recorded during the 2017 heat wave in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, breaking Iran's previous record and becoming one of the highest temperatures ever recorded on Earth.