India sizzles at 50 degrees Celsius: A look at world record temperatures

Multiple cities in India recorded their highest maximum temperatures of the season on Tuesday, the weather body said, naming Rajasthan's Churu as the warmest district so far

Rajasthan’s Churu recorded 50.5 degrees Celsius temperature on May 28, the highest temperature of the season so far, marking the “unprecedented” severe heat wave conditions prevailing in north India.

Churu’s maximum temperature was 7.5 degrees above normal, however, this is not the warmest day the city has ever experienced. The highest temperature recorded in this district was 50.8 degrees Celsius on June 1, 2019.

For context, India’s all-time highest temperature was recorded on May 19, 2016, when Phalodi in Rajasthan reached a sweltering 51 degrees Celsius.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) noted that several Indian cities recorded the “highest maximum temperature” on May 28. Agra (Uttar Pradesh), Bhatinda (Punjab), Patiala (Punjab), Rewa (Madhya Pradesh), Mungeli (Chhattisgarh), Daltonganj (Jharkhand), Gaya (bihar) were some of these cities on the IMD’s list.

List of the hottest temperatures around the world:

1) Officially, the highest officially registered temperature was recorded in California’s Death Valley in the United States in 1913 at 56.7 degrees Celsius.

2) The WMO website shows that the hottest known temperature in Africa is 55 degrees Celsius recorded in Tunisia’s Kebili in 1931.

3) In Asia, the highest temperature record is held by Mitribah, Kuwait at 53.9 degrees Celsius in 2016. Pakistan’s Turbat follows close at 53.7 degrees Celsius in 2017.

4) In August 2021, the WMO confirmed a new record temperature for continental Europe of 48.8 degrees Celsius in Italy.

5) In South America, the record is held by Rivadavia, Argentina at 48.9 degrees Celsius. Detailed list.

Climate change worsening heat impact

Scientists caution that blistering temperatures threaten to shatter previous records. After 2023 marked the warmest year on record, concerns are mounting that this year’s intensifying heatwaves could surpass that milestone, pushing the planet dangerously close to the 1.5 degrees Celsius lower limit of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The increasing emissions of (carbon dioxide) and greenhouse gases coupled with a growing El Nino event is pushing the temperatures to new highs, scientists said. El Nino is a weather pattern which describes unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.

The global average near-surface temperature in 2023 was at 1.45 degrees Celsius. Warning of the dire consequences of climate change, the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) Secretary-General Celeste Saulo issued a ‘Red Alert’ to the world in January.

Paris agreement threshold

The 1.5 degrees threshold for global warming has serious implications, including ‘ice-less summers’ in the Arctic Ocean once per century, impact on six million people due to sea-level rise in coastal areas by the end of this century, grave threat to ecosystems such as insects, vital pollinators, unusual droughts, flooding around the world among others, according to the United Nations.

At present, the month of June 2023 holds the unpleasant title of being the hottest month ever on record.