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Death Valley Dethrones Impostor As Hottest Place On Earth

Posted by timothy on from the c'mon-the-place-is-called-death-valley dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Adam Nagourney reports that after a yearlong investigation a team of climate scientists announced that it is throwing out a reading of 136.4 degrees claimed by the city of Al Aziziyah, Libya on Sept. 13, 1922 making the 134-degree reading registered on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley the official world record as the hottest place on earth. 'It's about time for science, but I think we all knew it was coming,' says Randy Banis. 'You don't underestimate Death Valley. Most of us enthusiasts are proud that the extremes that we have known about at Death Valley are indeed the most harsh on earth.' The final report by 13 climatologists appointed by the World Meteorological Organization, the climate agency of the United Nations, found five reasons to disqualify the Libya claim, including questionable instruments, an inexperienced observer who made the reading, and the fact that the reading was anomalous for that region and in the context of other temperatures reported in Libya that day. 'The more we looked at it, the more obvious it appeared to be an error,' says Christopher C. Burt, a meteorologist with Weather Underground who started the debate in a blog post in 2010."

3 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. Would it really kill the editors to put degrees F? by Alicat1194 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Would it, really?

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  2. Re:Would it really kill the editors to put degrees by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well it's easier to convert from K to C than from K to F (or C to F). Anyway, any temperature should be postfixed with the unit, especially here on /..

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  3. Dubious pride by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Promotional leaflets that still boast of Death Valley as being merely the hottest place in the United States are being rewritten, and resort owners say they are girding for a crush of heat-seeking visitors come next summer. There is even talk of having an official 100-year celebration of the record-setting measurement next July.

    “It’s about time for science, but I think we all knew it was coming,” said Randy Banis, the editor of DeathValley.com, an online newsletter promoting the valley. “You don’t underestimate Death Valley. Most of us enthusiasts are proud that the extremes that we have known about at Death Valley are indeed the most harsh on earth.”

    This seems to me to be a really dumb thing to be proud of.