Documented record · well documented
Mitribah
July mean daily maximum · Kuwait
Mitribah recorded 53.9 °C, verified by the World Meteorological Organization as the highest temperature reliably measured in Asia.
Why a record is measured against the place
A number on its own says very little. 53.9 °C would be unremarkable in one climate and unthinkable in another. What makes a record matter is its distance from what that place, at that time of year, has historically produced — its own normal.
Not Normal expresses that distance in standard deviations (σ) from a thirty-year baseline. Two σ above normal is reached in roughly 1 year in 44 under the baseline climate; four σ above, roughly 1 year in 32,000.
Modelled demonstration series · not observed data
The same place on the field
Not Normal carries a modelled 75-year series for Mitribah (July mean daily maximum) that demonstrates the reasoning above. It is synthesised from published climatology, not observed, and is kept apart from the documented record on this page.
The season here
Northern Kuwait in July is one of the hottest reliably instrumented places on the planet; there is no sea breeze this far inland.
Other documented records
Open Mitribah on the field →