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Is the world record high temperature 57.7°C, 136°F, 57.8°C, or 58°C?

The world record high ambient surface air temperature was recorded at Al 'Aziziyah, Libya, on September 13, 1922. This temperature is variously reported as (1) 57.7°C = 135.86°F, (2) 136°F = 57.778°C, (3) 57.8°C = 136.04°F, or (4) 58°C = 136.4°F. Was this temperature recorded on a centigrade (Celsius) or Fahrenheit instrument and what was the precise reading? Please give us your reference sources.

PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND UNLESS YOU HAVE ACCESS TO AN AUTHENTICATED SOURCE.

A great deal of misinformation about this record clutters the Internet.

Thanks,

Deep Thought

Update:

Libya was an Italian colony from 1911 until 1943. The Italian government recorded temperatures in tenths of a degree centigrade. See http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/cd025A_pdf/00650D6...

Update 2:

It appears that the original high temperature reading was 57.7°C.

The rounded values 58°C and 136°F were obtained by rounding 57.7°C to the nearest degree Celsius and degree Fahrenheit. The erroneous value 57.8°C is apparently the result a double conversion error from 57.7°C to 136°F to 57.8°C.

I've updated my website at http://home.comcast.net/~igpl/Extremes.html#EC

6 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    After 30 minutes of searching, I can't help you much. Most information I read would conclude 57.7 celsius, considering libya was under european influence and this is the most common figure I saw.

    In honesty, however, I imagine that the real recorded temperature is not as accurate as you are looking for. Though known for 180 years, the thermometers were not nearly as reliable as today's are, and I imagine that in 1922 the world's most accurate thermometer was not located in northern Libya.

    Good luck.

  • Anonymous
    5 years ago

    The Libyan 136 has been discredited--read the history of it and it was clearly wrong. The 134 at Death Valley has some problems with it--the main one being that it took place during a raging sandstorm, and the thermometer shelter may have been contaminated by hot sand. The next highest is 129 in Death Valley, recorded a few times under conditions that are not in dispute. And Sagebrush, you're just as wrong as you ever are--the high temperature today in Death Valley was 128 F. There is no particular reason to expect that the all-time world record high should have been exceeded because of global warming--I've covered this before (I think in answers to your own questions Flossie).

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    136 degrees Fahrenheit. i just asked a teacher, it's right as far as i know. good luck on answering this question if it isn't right though. ttyl,

    bnsnsoftball2006 :)

    or it could be 12o degrees F, bu ti don't think that you had that listed as one of your choices of an answer. best of luck,

    bnsnsoftball2006

    Source(s): i don;t have one at the moment, sorry. bnsnsoftball2006
  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/axYkn

    Single events are weather.

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  • 1 decade ago

    With a name like deep thought, I thought it would be 42.

    It's always 42.

    b

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Frankly, you're quibbling about rounding differences. I wouldn't call any of these reports erroneous.

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