Long ago in the ancient world there was a city by the name of El Azizia in Libya for 90 years people thought that it is the hottest city on planet Earth, all that was about to change in 2011 but unfortunately a wave of change gripped Libya that brought the country in a state of war with itself. Thus it was thought that Earth would never find out which city is the hottest on its surface.
On 13 September 1922, an unbelievable high temperature of 57.8°C was recorded in El Azizia, making the city a living-hell on Earth but a group of researchers were convinced that El Azizia is not the hottest place instead it is Death Valley, California.
Who were the researchers?
These group of researchers were Christopher C. Burt (Weather Underground) and Khalid Ibrahim El Fadli (Libyan National Meteorological Centre). From the beginning they were convinced that Libya does not hold the record for the highest temperature, they first had their doubts on October 10, 2010.
Fadli disappears as Revolution hits Libya
The research was halted as Libyan Meteorologist went missing during the period of Revolution, this was a major set back for the team and it was feared that the research would remain a mystery.
But some how some way, Fadli re-emerged from debris of Tripoli after missing for eight months, the war-torn country was not recognizable. Amazingly Fadli was able to collect the records from the collapsed Meteorological building. He and Christopher presented these observation to the World Meteorological Organization.
Record belongs to Death Valley!
As soon as the observations were compared to the previous record of 1921 and 1922, it became clear that something went wrong while recording the temperature in El Aziza.
Thus on September 13, 2012, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) declared that Death Valley in California holds the highest temperature that is 56.7°C, recorded on July 10, 1913. As a matter of fact – The highest temperature recorded in Pakistan was 53.5 °C in May 2010.
What went wrong in Libya?
It has been said by the research team that there were problems with the measuring instrument;
- The measuring instrument was placed over a large hill thus it used to get more sunlight than the actual city. The city experienced high temperatures during 1919 to 1928.
- Two days before the record, an inexperienced meteorologist started looking after the observatory.
- A house hold thermometer was used instead of an official thermometer.
Leaves a question behind
Although the research must be appreciated but the question is why this step took place during the time of revolution? during that time many sanctions were placed on Libya! Was it a step to decrease tourism to Libya? – After all everyone wants to visit the hottest place on Earth, dont they?
Pakistan Weather PortaL 