From Death Valley to Mitribah, Kuwait to Kebili, Tunisia, discover the hottest places on Earth that have registered blistering temperatures as high as 130 degrees Fahrenheit.
Justin Mier/FlickrThe highest temperature ever recorded, 134°F, was registered at Death Valley’s Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913, putting it atop the list of the hottest places on Earth.
Planet Earth is defined by astonishing extremes, from the deepest part of the ocean to the world’s highest peak. It’s a planet where everything from flora and fauna to terrain and temperature can vary wildly — and as far as temperature is concerned, what are the hottest places on Earth?
The hottest place on Earth is Death Valley, located in the deserts of California. Named after a group of pioneers who once barely survived a winter in its inhospitable grip, Death Valley has registered the highest temperatures ever recorded in the world when it soared to 134.1 degrees Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.
However, the world is full of staggeringly hot places beyond Death Valley.
From Oodnadatta, Australia and Mitribah, Kuwait to Iran’s Lut Desert and China’s “Flaming Mountains,” these are some of the hottest places in the world. Many of them have set records after hitting some of Earth’s highest temperatures — and many of them are getting even hotter today.
Dallol: One Of The Hottest Places On Earth — And The Most Colorful
A.Savin/Wikimedia CommonsThe kaleidoscopic landscape of Dallol, which is located in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression.
When you think about the hottest places on Earth, you might be tempted to envision great swaths of desert, dunes of pale sand as far as the eye can see. But Dallol, Ethiopia, which is located in the Danakil Depression, is astonishingly kaleidoscopic.
Once part of the Red Sea, Dallol is now a stunning sprawl of sulfur springs, which give the region its vibrant shades of greens, yellows, and reds. It has an average temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit, but temperatures can rise even hotter — to 120 or even 130 degrees.
Naturally, these conditions are hard for any human being to endure. Dallol has been called the “gateway to hell” and the “land of death.” But the region has long drawn people for reasons beyond its colorful landscape. Its hills, though inhospitable, are filled with valuable salt deposits, long known in the area as “white gold.”
Hervé Sthioul/Wikimedia CommonsSalt, or “white gold,” was a form of currency in Ethiopia until the 20th century.
This “white gold” was used as currency in Ethiopia up until the 20th century, and has been harvested by local nomads known as the Afar people for centuries. Wandering from place to place with their goats, camels, and cattle, the Afar are known for their ability to collect and sell Dallol’s precious salt.
However, Dallol has been in the news lately for other reasons beyond its salt or the fact that it’s one of the hottest places on Earth. The area has been studied by scientists who are hoping to glean insights about extremophiles, microbes that are able to live in extreme conditions like hot springs, salty lakes, and polar ice caps.
If scientists can better understand organisms that exist in Dallol’s extreme environment, maybe that can shed light on the possibility of life on other planets, like Mars.
