Blog Updated @ 1:20 PM MDT.
Reported High Temps Saturday.
(2.1 NNW Downtown Carlsbad, NM).
Yesterday (Saturday, June 18, 2016) was one of the hottest if not the hottest day of the year for many of us in southern and southeastern New Mexico. The
Carlsbad Climate Co-Op Station registered a high temp of
108ºF making this their hottest reading of the summer so far.
The El Paso Airport came in with
108ºF yesterday for their highest temp so far. The Pecos, TX Airport reported
108ºF yesterday tying their highest reading with Friday. The Roswell Airport ended up with a high temp of
106ºF but their highest temp so far this month occurred this past Wednesday with
107ºF. The Artesia Airport reported
104ºF yesterday and this ties the
104ºF reported on this past Thursday. The Carlsbad Airport reported
107ºF yesterday for the third day in a row.
The Smokey Bear Raws located near Ruidoso at an elevation of 7,090' reported a high temp of 96ºF yesterday. The Sierra Blanca Regional Airport reported 91ºF.
We will get somewhat of a break over the next few days but by Wednesday it appears that our triple digit temps will be back and stay into the upcoming end of the week.
Current National Weather Service forecasts for Death Valley still are calling for a high temp of
124ºF this coming Tuesday. That's a ways from their all-time record high of
134ºF established there on July 10, 1913. Check out
this really interesting video and article concerning the worlds highest reported temperature of
136ºF in Aziziya, Libya now disqualified as so, verses Death Valley's reading of
134ºF.
Measuring conditions.
The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air, 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) above the ground, and shielded from direct sunlight intensity (hence the term, x degrees "in the shade").
[2] The following lists include all officially confirmed claims measured by those methods.
Temperatures measured directly on the ground may exceed air temperatures by 30 to 50 °C (54 to 90 °F).
[2] A ground temperature of 84 °C (183.2 °F) has been recorded in Port Sudan, Sudan.
[3] A ground temperature of 93.9 °C (201.0 °F) was recorded in
Furnace Creek,
Death Valley,
California,
USA on 15 July 1972;
this may be the highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded.
[4] The theoretical maximum possible ground surface temperature has been estimated to be between 90 and 100 °C (194 and 212 °F) for dry, darkish soils of low thermal conductivity.
[5]
Satellite measurements of ground temperature taken between 2003 and 2009, taken with the
MODIS infrared spectroradiometer on the
Aqua satellite, found a maximum temperature of 70.7 °C (159.3 °F), which was recorded in 2005 in the
Lut Desert,
Iran. The Lut Desert was also found to have the highest maximum temperature in 5 of the 7 years measured (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009). These measurements reflect averages over a large region and so are lower than the maximum point surface temperature.
[2]
Satellite measurements of the surface temperature of Antarctica, taken between 1982 and 2013, found a coldest temperature of −93.2 °C (−135.8 °F) on 10 August 2010, at
81.8°S 59.3°E. Although this is not comparable to an air temperature, it is believed that the air temperature at this location would have been lower than the official record lowest air temperature of −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
[6][7]
Heat.
Highest temperatures ever recorded.
A world map showing areas with
Köppen BWh(hot desert climate). The temperatures in these regions have the potential to exceed 50 °C (122 °F) during the hottest seasons.
There are reports of temperatures higher than the listed world record of 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) during phenomena known as
heat bursts, including a report of 87 °C (188 °F) in
Abadan, Iran in June 1967. There are also reports made by satellite analysis, including one of 66.8 °C (152.2 °F) measured in the
Flaming Mountains of
China in 2008.
[8] These temperatures have never been confirmed, and are not recognized as world records.
[9] The former highest official temperature on Earth, held for 90 years by
‘Aziziya,
Libya, was de-certified by the WMO (
World Meteorological Organization) in January 2012 as the record for the world's highest surface temperature. (This temperature of 58 °C (136.4 °F), registered on 13 September 1922, is currently considered to have been a recorder's error.
[10])
Christopher C. Burt, the weather historian writing for
Weather Underground who shepherded the Libya reading's 2012 disqualification, believes that the 1913 Death Valley reading is "a myth", and is at least 2.2 or 2.8 °C (4 or 5 °F) too high,
[11] as do other weather historians Dr. Arnold Court and William Taylor Reid.
[12] Burt proposes that the highest reliably recorded temperature on Earth is still at Death Valley, but is instead 53.9 °C (129 °F) recorded five times: 20 July 1960, 18 July 1998, 20 July 2005, 7 July 2007, and 30 June 2013.
[13][14]
The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!
