Iranian City Soars to Record 129 Degrees: Near Hottest on Earth in Modern Measurements

A city in southwest Iran posted the country’s hottest temperature ever recorded Thursday afternoon, and may have tied 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.

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. 

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