The official record for the hottest air temperature ever measured on Earth is 134°F (56.7°C), recorded on July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek Ranch in California’s Death Valley. The official record for the coldest air temperature is -128.6°F (-89.2°C), recorded on July 21, 1983, at Vostok Station in Antarctica. The gap between them is over 260°F - a wider temperature range than most planets experience.
Both records are disputed in various ways. Some scientists believe the 1913 Death Valley reading may have had instrument issues. Other unofficial readings (using satellite data) have measured ground temperatures over 175°F in Iran’s Lut Desert, and ground temperatures as low as -144°F in eastern Antarctica. But for now, those 1913 and 1983 official numbers stand as the formal records.
What’s remarkable is that humans live across nearly that whole range. People live and work in Death Valley in summer (with serious air conditioning) and in Antarctic research stations through the polar winter. Few other animals could handle either extreme. Our adaptability to temperature, more than almost any other species, has helped us colonize every continent on Earth.
