Record temperatures have been recorded in various parts of the Northern Hemisphere in recent weeks. In fact, in July, NASA recorded the highest temperature ever measured on the Earth’s surface: 80 degrees Celsius at a location in the Sonoran Desert in Mexico. Aside from this location, in which country are the hottest places on Earth?

ANSWER

United States. According to the BBC’s Science Focus ranking, the highest temperature ever recorded at a weather station—the 80 degrees in Sonora was a satellite reading—was 56.7 degrees Celsius, recorded in July 1913 in California’s so-called Death Valley. Next is Kebili, Tunisia, with 55 degrees recorded in July 1931, and Ahvaz, Iran, with 54 degrees recorded in June 2017.