How the hottest temperatures in the world are verified

When an extreme, potentially record-breaking global weather event occurs today, the UN's World Meteorological Organization sends in a team of investigators. They verify it happened. The National Weather Service reported a 130 degree Fahrenheit temperature in Death Valley, Calif. on Aug. 16, amid a heat wave of rare intensity. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has already started organizing a panel of atmospheric scientists to carefully examine the observation, said Randy Cerveny, the agency's rapporteur (or lead reporter) for extreme records. If verified, the 130 F mark would be the highest temperature recorded on Earth since at least 1931, according to the WMO. Though, importantly, some meteorologists think the new 130 F measurement would be the highest temperature ever reliably recorded on Earth. Previous observations (like a 134 F reading in Death Valley from July 1913) have notable reliability problems. Either way, it's likely that Aug. 16 was the hottest August day, by far, ever recorded in Death Valley.  Read more...More about Science, Extreme Weather, Climate Change, Science, and Climate Environment