What are the Hottest and Coldest Inhabited Places in the World?

Wunderground.com – 5/2/13, Christopher C. Burt

Most weather-minded people know that Death Valley, California and Vostok, Antarctica have measured the highest and lowest extreme temperatures on earth but what about the warmest and coldest inhabited places so far as average annual temperatures are concerned? Ace temperature detective Maximiliano Herrera has just finished researching this. Here are his findings.

Although it has been widely reported that Dallol in the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia has the highest average annual temperature on earth with a figure of 34.5°C (94.1°F) the figure was derived from only seven years of data (1960-1966) by a mining company that was prospecting in the depression during those years. Actually, there were many missing months of record during those seven years and the total number of months with complete data was just 58. The location has never been permanently inhabited and there has been little or no weather data for the site since the 1960s. Nevertheless, from a climatological viewpoint the Danakil Depression probably is the hottest place on earth (in terms of average annual temperature). But for inhabited locations it would appear that Mecca (or Makah), Saudi Arabia is the warmest inhabited location on earth. Its average annual temperature is 30.7°C (87.3°F).

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