Delhi heatwave: officials investigating if temperature of 52.9C due to faulty sensor
www.theguardian.com
Meteorological department examining data from Mungeshpur station amid soaring temperatures that came close to 50 degrees Celsius
  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    That’s 127.22°F.

    That’s not all that far off the world record in Death Valley.

    https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/07/death-valley-california-breaks-the-all-time-world-heat-record-for-the-second-year-in-a-row/

    Death Valley, California, breaks the all-time world heat record for the second year in a row

    If verified, the 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4°C) reading at the Furnace Creek Visitor’s Center on Friday, July 9, 2021, would be Earth’s highest reliably measured temperature.

    There are a whole lot more people living in Delhi than Death Valley, though.

    EDIT: According to this, the hottest temperature India has been recorded seeing prior to this was in 2016:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records

    51.0 °C (123.8 °F)

    That was at Phalodi, which is a desert city in India.

    EDIT2: It sounds like the Indian government thinks that the reading may be an error.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/delhi-temperature-may-break-record-highest-ever-india-126-degrees/

    A temperature reading collected in Delhi, India’s capital territory, may have broken national records as the country grapples with a blistering heat wave. The reading — 52.9 degrees Celsius or 126.1 degrees Fahrenheit — was preliminary and technically an outlier compared with others taken in Delhi on the same day, officials said. But, if confirmed, it would be the highest temperature ever registered anywhere in India.

    The temperature reading came from a substation in Mungeshpur, a neighborhood in Delhi. Located in the northwest, India’s capital territory — which includes its capital city, New Delhi — is home to almost 30 million people and covers about 600 square miles of land. The Indian Meteorological Department said in a news release that the reading out of Mungeshpur could be due to a sensor issue or some other error, and that it would examine the data and the sensor.

    • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      5 months ago

      The difference is that the Delhi temperature is likely with significantly more humidity than the Death Valley one, even despite the fact that it’s the drier part of the year in Delhi.

      • saltesc@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        Yeah. Where I used to live, 28C was bang on perfect. My new part of the world which is more inland and dry, it felt like that at 43. I would never had known if someone hadn’t mentioned “record heat”.

        I’ve been in 52 in dessert and it’s more like an oven, much less like a sauna. It’s “interesting”. I’ve been in 48C in a humid climate and it the heat felt ois so, so, so much worse, most people wouldn’t understand it unless experienced. It feels genuinely lethal and people definitely do die in their homes.