Where Are the Coldest and Hotest Spots on Earth?

[alex sam]

The hottest continent on earth is Africa.

 

It was on this continent, in the country of Libya, a desert nation on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, in which the highest temperatures on earth were recorded. The thermometer hit a record high of 136.4 degrees F.

 

The United States comes in second in the race for high temperatures. Death Valley, California, one time hit a high of 130 degrees F. The United States comes in first, though, so far as changes in temperature go. In Spearfish, South Dakota, the temperature once rose 49 degrees in just two minutes.

 

The record for the coldest cold is not at the North Pole in the Arctic. That honor is held by Antarctica, which is the coldest continent on earth. A world record for cold was set at Vostok. The temperature hit an all-time low of 126.9 degrees F. below zero.

[brentwise]

Wonder if these will be changing after the magnetic poles shift later in 2012?

[insane_alien]

magnetic pole shifts take thousands of years.

 

the magnetic poles have little if any effect on surface temperatures.

[ajb]

JET tokamak device, Culham Oxfordshire produces temperatures in the region of 100 million degrees C.

 

Helsinki University of Technology's Low Temperature Lab recorded nuclear spin temperatures below 100 pK.

 

I don't know if these are the absolute records, but they are the hottest and coldest I know of.

Edited January 22, 2011 by ajb