Ninety-nine years after the fact, Death Valley, California, has been handed the title of hottest place on earth: 134 degrees Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913. Until this week, the record belonged to El Aziza, Libya, which supposedly reached 136 degrees on September 13, 1922. However, after a comprehensive study by 13 atmospheric scientists on behalf of the World Meteorological Organization, the Libyan record was revealed to be incorrect. “When we compared observations to surrounding areas and to other measurements made before and after the 1922 reading,” said Randy Cerveny, the study’s leader, “they simply didn’t match up.” In addition to being an outlying result, the study also found that the temperature was recorded with an outdated instrument and by an inexperienced observer.
Via Washington Post