This list does not include remotely sensed observations such as satellite measurements, since those values are not considered official records.
[6] The highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded may have been an alleged reading of 93.9 °C (201.0 °F) at Furnace Creek, California, United States, on 15 July 1972.
[8] 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.
These measurements reflect averages over a large region and so are lower than the maximum point surface temperature.
[10][11] According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the highest temperature ever recorded was 56.7 °C (134.1 °F) on 10 July 1913 in Furnace Creek (Greenland Ranch), California, United States,[12] but the validity of this record is challenged as possible problems with the reading have since been discovered.
The former highest official temperature on Earth, 57.8 °C (136.0 °F), measured in ʽAziziya, Libya on 13 September 1922, was reassessed in July 2012 by the WMO which published a report that invalidated the record.