A US national park has experienced the hottest temperature recorded on Earth since at least 1931.
The Death Valley in California hit a record-breaking 54.4 degrees at 3.41pm local time on Sunday, the National Weather Service confirmed after a fire tornado was spotted.
It’s believed that is the highest temperature recorded anywhere on the planet in at least a century, and possibly ever.
It would also be among the top-three highest temperatures to have ever been measured at the site, a desert valley in the northern Mojave Desert, as well as the highest temperature ever seen there during the month of August.
Tweet from @itsbeats
The news comes as the Japanese central city of Hamamatsu set a new national temperature record on Monday.
The mercury hit 41.1 degrees, tying with the highest temperature recorded in July 2018 in the city of Kumagaya, north of Tokyo.
The heatwave gripping the country is continuing to claim lives, mostly the elderly.
In Tokyo alone, a total of 53 people died of heatstroke this month, officials said, as the capital has been hit by extreme temperatures.
Meanwhile, the Death Valley holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded on the planet: 56.66 degrees in 1913, according to Guinness World Records.
That reading has been disputed, however.
We've released a Public Information Statement (PNS) that describes the process. pic.twitter.com/lAl8NQDCyp
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) August 17, 2020
Since then, a 53.88-degree reading was recorded in Death Valley in 2013.
The reading comes amid an epic heat wave that continues to grip most of the southwestern US.
Multiple daily heat records were set on Saturday.
Downtown Los Angeles hit 36.66 degrees, tying a record set in 1994.
Per the climate data in xmACIS2, this is the first time since 1913 that Death Valley has reached 130F. In July 2013, it last reached 129F. If valid, it would be the hottest August temperature at the site by 3F. @NWSVegas pic.twitter.com/gZNBW4NXI4
— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) August 16, 2020
-with AAP
