Climate facts: the wettest, driest, windiest
Climate records are held by places that are usually uninhabited, with a few striking exceptions where people have simply built around the extreme and got on with it.
Which is the coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth?
Oymyakon, Russia
Oymyakon in Siberia has recorded around -68 C. Cars are left running all day in winter, and the ground is permafrost so deep that graves need fires lit to thaw it.
Source: Russian Federal Hydrometeorological Service
Where was the highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth?
Death Valley, California
Furnace Creek recorded 56.7 C in 1913, a figure still debated, and 54.4 C as recently as 2020-21. Ground temperatures in Iran's Lut Desert are higher but those are surface, not air.
Source: World Meteorological Organization archive of weather extremes
Which place receives the most rain in an average year?
Mawsynram
Mawsynram in Meghalaya averages around 11,800 mm a year, most of it during the monsoon. Locals have historically used grass to soundproof huts against the noise of the rain.
Source: India Meteorological Department
What is the lowest temperature ever recorded on Earth?
About -89 C
Vostok in Antarctica recorded -89.2 C in 1983. Satellite readings of the ice surface have since found spots near -98 C, but those are not air temperatures.
Source: World Meteorological Organization; NASA satellite surveys
Why is Britain milder than Labrador, at the same latitude?
The Gulf Stream
London sits at about 51.5 N, roughly level with Calgary, but the North Atlantic Drift brings warm water from the tropics. Winters are several degrees milder than the latitude alone would suggest.
Source: UK Met Office; oceanography of the North Atlantic Drift
The word 'monsoon' originally referred to what?
A seasonal wind reversal
From Arabic mawsim, a season. It describes winds that reverse direction between summer and winter; the rain is a consequence of the wind shift, not the definition.
Source: Etymology; standard meteorological definition
Has it ever snowed in the Sahara?
Yes, several times
Ain Sefra in Algeria has seen snow settle several times since 1979, most recently in the 2010s and 2020s. Desert nights get cold because dry air holds little heat.
Source: Algerian meteorological reports; satellite imagery
Outside North America, which country gets the most tornadoes for its size?
Britain
The UK records roughly 30 to 50 a year over a small area, giving it more tornadoes per square kilometre than anywhere else. They are almost all weak compared with American ones.
Source: UK Tornado and Storm Research Organisation
Which European capital is famous for having the fewest hours of winter sunshine?
Reykjavik
At 64 N, Reykjavik gets roughly four hours of daylight around the winter solstice and over twenty around midsummer. It never gets true midnight sun, being just south of the Arctic Circle.
Source: Icelandic Met Office daylight tables