What is the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth?

Southern Europe and the south west of the US are in the middle of an intense period of extreme heat - but which location has the record as the hottest ever?

Ross McGuinness
Updated ·4 min read
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Tourists shelter from the sun with umbrellas near the Colosseum in Rome, on July 14, 2023, as Italy is hit by a heatwave. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP) (Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Tourists shelter from the sun with umbrellas near the Colosseum in Rome. (AFP via Getty Images)

Large parts of Europe and the US remain in the grip of an extreme heatwave.

Temperatures are expected to reach as high as 48C on the Italian island of Sardinia and 47C in Las Vegas this week.

People in much of southern Europe and the south west of the US are struggling to cope in near record breaking temperatures.

Elsewhere, China provisionally recorded the hottest day in its history on Sunday when temperatures reached 52.2C in Sanbao, located in the Turpan Depression in Xinjiang province, beating the previous mark of 50.3C, also recorded in Turpan, a basin of dried-up lakes and sand dunes, in 2015.

In Europe, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece and the Balkans are all sweltering in the Cerberus heatwave, named by the Italian Meteorological Society after the three-headed monster that features in Dante’s inferno.

Read more: Cerberus heatwave - why is Europe being hit by such high temperatures?

People cool off during an ongoing heat wave with temperatures reaching 40 degrees, at Piazza di Spagna, on July 16, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A man tries to cool off in Rome on Sunday as temperatures soared across Italy and southern Europe. (Getty Images)

Much of southern Europe has been in the high 30s, while some parts of southern Italy and areas in Greece have been in the low-to-mid 40s, which is eight to 12 degrees above the seasonal average for the region.

A total of 15 cities in Italy were placed on red alert over the weekend because of the Cerberus heatwave.

Forecasters say in the coming days parts of Italy and Greece could push the 48.8C recorded in Syracuse, Sicily, in August 2021, the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe.

The high temperatures are being driven by a high pressure system that is sat across the region, allowing temperatures to build day by day.

KRAKOW, POLAND - JULY 16: Canadian tourists refresh themselves inside a water fountain in Krakow, Poland on July 16, 2023. The Central Eastern European country has issued a second degree warning as a heat wave affects the country. Forecast indicates that 35 Celciius degrees will be felt around the country. Krakow has established water courtains points around the city in order for the citizens and tourists be able to refresh. (Photo by Omar Marques/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Tourists refresh themselves inside a water fountain in Krakow, Poland, as the impact of the heatwave is felt across Europe. (Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In the UK, the Met Office announced previously that last month was the hottest June on record.

Many parts of the UK were officially declared in a heatwave on 13 June after a spell of hot weather.

Sunday 25 June was the joint hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 32.2C in Coningsby, Lincolnshire, matching the previous high set on 10 June in Chertsey, Surrey.

Coningsby is where the UK’s hottest ever temperature of 40.3C was recorded on 19 July last year.

What is the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth?

The highest official temperature ever on the planet was recorded 110 years ago.

The hottest temperature ever was 56.7C, recorded on 10 July 1913 at Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley, California.

It replaced a previous recording that was measured in Libya but which was decertified in 2012 based on evidence it was an incorrect reading.

TOPSHOT - A heat advisory sign is shown along US highway 190 during a heat wave in Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, on July 16, 2023. Tens of millions of Americans braced for more sweltering temperatures Sunday as brutal conditions threatened to break records due to a relentless heat dome that has baked parts of the country all week. By the afternoon of July 15, 2023, California's famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached a sizzling 124F (51C), with Sunday's peak predicted to soar as high as 129F (54C). Even overnight lows there could exceed 100F (38C). (Photo by Ronda Churchill / AFP) (Photo by RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
A heat advisory sign in Death Valley National Park in California on Sunday. (AFP via Getty Images)
A tourist looks out in the distance during a heat wave in Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, on July 16, 2023. Tens of millions of Americans braced for more sweltering temperatures Sunday as brutal conditions threatened to break records due to a relentless heat dome that has baked parts of the country all week. By the afternoon of July 15, 2023, California's famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached a sizzling 124F (51C), with Sunday's peak predicted to soar as high as 129F (54C). Even overnight lows there could exceed 100F (38C). (Photo by Ronda Churchill / AFP) (Photo by RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
A tourist looks out in the distance during a heatwave in Death Valley National Park on Sunday. (AFP via Getty Images)

On Sunday, temperatures in Death Valley reached 53.9C amid predictions that the existing record could be toppled.

Why is Death Valley so hot?

According to the National Park Service in the US, summer temperatures in Death Valley often top 49C in the shade, dipping overnight to lows in the mid-30s.

It said the valley's depth and shape affect its summer temperatures.

The National Park Service said: "The valley is a long, narrow basin 282f (86m) below sea level, yet is walled by high, steep mountain ranges.

"The clear, dry air and sparse plant cover allow sunlight to heat the desert surface. Heat radiates back from the rocks and soil, then becomes trapped in the valley's depths."

Scott Hughes, of Swansea, Wales, UK, takes a selfie next to a digital display of an unofficial heat reading at Furnace Creek Visitor Center during a heat wave in Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, on July 16, 2023. Tens of millions of Americans braced for more sweltering temperatures Sunday as brutal conditions threatened to break records due to a relentless heat dome that has baked parts of the country all week. By the afternoon of July 15, 2023, California's famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached a sizzling 124F (51C), with Sunday's peak predicted to soar as high as 129F (54C). Even overnight lows there could exceed 100F (38C). (Photo by Ronda Churchill / AFP) (Photo by RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
Scott Hughes, from Swansea in Wales, takes a selfie next to a digital display of an unofficial heat reading at Furnace Creek Visitor Center during a heatwave in Death Valley on Sunday. (AFP via Getty Images)
Gabriel Ambrus de Moraes, 29, (L) is photographed by his twin brother Pedro, both of Los Angeles, as he stands next to a digital display of an unofficial heat reading at Furnace Creek Visitor Center during a heat wave in Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, on July 16, 2023. Tens of millions of Americans braced for more sweltering temperatures Sunday as brutal conditions threatened to break records due to a relentless heat dome that has baked parts of the country all week. By the afternoon of July 15, 2023, California's famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached a sizzling 124F (51C), with Sunday's peak predicted to soar as high as 129F (54C). Even overnight lows there could exceed 100F (38C). (Photo by Ronda Churchill / AFP) (Photo by RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
Gabriel Ambrus de Moraes, left, is photographed by his twin brother Pedro at Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley National Park. (AFP via Getty Images)
TOPSHOT - Clint Johnson, of Pleasant Hill, Calif., (L) and Melanie Anguay, of Las Vegas, stand for a photo next to a digital display of an unofficial heat reading at Furnace Creek Visitor Center during a heat wave in Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, on July 16, 2023. Tens of millions of Americans braced for more sweltering temperatures Sunday as brutal conditions threatened to break records due to a relentless heat dome that has baked parts of the country all week. By the afternoon of July 15, 2023, California's famous Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, had reached a sizzling 124F (51C), with Sunday's peak predicted to soar as high as 129F (54C). Even overnight lows there could exceed 100F (38C). (Photo by Ronda Churchill / AFP) (Photo by RONDA CHURCHILL/AFP via Getty Images)
Clint Johnson, left, and Melanie Anguay, stand beside a digital temperature display at Furnace Creek Visitor Center. (AFP via Getty Images)
FURNACE CREEK, CALIFORNIA - JULY 16: People walk on the salt flat at Badwater, the lowest point in North America at 282 ft (86 m) below sea level, as the temperature rises well into the upper 120 F degrees on a day that could set a new world heat record in Death Valley National Park on July 16, 2023 near Furnace Creek, California. Weather forecasts for tomorrow call for a high temperature of 129 degrees Fahrenheit and possibly as high as 131. Previously, the highest temperature reliably recorded on Earth was 129.2F (54C) in Death Valley in 2013. A century earlier, a high temperature in Death Valley reportedly reached 134F but many modern weather experts have rejected that claim along with other high summer temperatures reported in the region that year. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
People walk on the salt flat at Badwater in Death Valley National Park on Sunday. (Getty Images)

The heated air rises, then cools before it can get over the valley's mountain walls, and is recycled back to the valley floor.

These descending air pockets are only slighting cooler than the surrounding air, and are heated even more as they descend by the low elevation pressure.

"These moving masses of super heated air blow through the valley, creating extreme high temperatures," the National Park Service said.

Watch: Heatwave in Death Valley threatens to top highest ever temperature