54 degrees neither more nor less . California’s Death Valley could have set a world temperature record with a dizzying 54.4 ° C on Sunday, August 16.
The temperature needs to be verified by the National Weather Service but, if confirmed , something that will take a few weeks, this figure breaks quite a few records: the highest temperature recorded in Death Valley in 100 years, the hottest temperature recorded in August. in this area and the highest temperature in the world recorded anywhere on Earth.
The temperature was recorded in the so-called Furnace Creek at 3:41 p.m. local time on Sunday, August 16, as California cooks in a heat wave that has seen wildfires, fiery tornadoes and power outages across the state, with no signs to decrease.
The official global heat record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), is also located at Furnace Creek, which recorded an air temperature of 56.7 ° C on July 10, 1913.
How is heat measured?
Heat logs are measured in three ways : air temperature, ground temperature, and via satellite. The standard for measuring temperature is through the air: 1.5 meters above the ground and protected from sunlight.
The previous 90-year record was 58 ° C at El Azizia, Libya, on September 13, 1922. But in 2012, the WMO officially overturned it after evidence of an error in the temperature record was revealed. during an investigation.
Death Valley is one of the driest places on Earth, with an annual rainfall of just 6 centimeters, but it is not a lifeless place for that. Shocking as it is, it is home to the world’s rarest fish, the Devil’s Hole Pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis ), one of the most isolated animals on Earth.
Life always finds a path in its path.
