Seriously, is death valley the world’s hottest place? Is it hotter that the Sahara?
Or the Rub al Khali (Empty Quarter) in Saudi Arabia? Or the Atacama Desert in Chile?
No. While it holds the record for the highest temperature recorded, temperatures in Libya have been recorded at over 130 more frequently than Death Valley. Also there are vast stretches of the Sahara where no temperatures are ever recorded.
It's a hot place. According to my California history teacher many decades ago, the name California derived from a phrase used by Spanish explorers that means it is "as hot as a lime kiln"; in other words a hot oven. From Catalan words calc and forn, the Latin roots calcis meaning lime and fornax meaning oven. As the explorers made their way north from Mexico, they suffered the heat of the desert. Although other legends of how the name came to exist, all explanations are in dispute. I'm sticking with what I was taught, my teacher was an expert on California history.
No, seriously it was invalidated because the readings were considered unreliable and did not match other nearby readings.
http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_956_en.html
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=89
Yes.
Death Valley Officially Hottest Place On Earth
In a year that has seen the United States record its hottest month ever comes word that the country now owns the title of the hottest air temperature recorded on Earth.
The World Meteorological Organization, the weather and climate agency of the United Nations, has recognized Death Valley, California, as the place where the planet has seen U.N. agency invalidated the previous record, 136.4 degrees its hottest day ever, July 10, 1913, when it reached 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 degrees Celsius).
Death Valley was able to lay claim to the title when the F (58 degrees C), that was recorded at El Azizia, Libya, on September 13, 1922.
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