The most extreme climates and places on earth

One of the best things about our planet is how varied it is, with places too hot or cold to survive and isolated towns that receive 10 times the amount of rainfall that England does. With the recent changes in the climate, some of these conditions are slowly getting worse, with the future being certain to hold even worse events, but for now, these are the most extreme climates and places on earth.

The hottest place on earth

Death Valley in California holds the official title for the hottest place on earth when it reached a maximum high of 134F (56.7°C) in July 1913. This was recorded at Furnace Creek by a member of the World Meteorological Organization and remains the record holder, with temperatures only surpassing 54.4°C several times since.

The Coldest place on earth

The continent of Antarctica is by far the coldest place on earth due to its size and location, but the coldest temperature ever directly recorded was taken here at the Vostok research station in July 1983 and measured -89.2°C (-128.6°F). It is the coldest temperature that has ever been officially taken and remains the record holder, but a location on the Eastern Antarctic Plateau could be even lower. The conditions here could be as low as -94°C, but this has only been observed with long-range equipment and not directly confirmed.

The wettest place on earth

England doesn’t usually receive more than 1,400mm of rainfall a year and is thought to be a wet and gloomy place, but this doesn’t even come close to the world record holder. Mawsynram is a town in the district of Meghalaya in northeastern India and is by far the world record holder for the wettest place on earth. This small but spread-out town receives an average of almost 12,000mm of rain each year, and on 17 June 2022, the town set a new world record and received 1003.6 mm of rain in 24 hours.

The most radioactive place on earth

(An ariel photo taken shortly after the explosion)

In March 2011, a series of tidal waves caused the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan to explode, causing a huge amount of radiation to escape and seep into the local land and water supplies. There are still active fuel rods in reactors 1 to 3 which can’t be removed due to how much radiation they are giving off, and even 13 years later water still has to be constantly pumped into the ruins to keep the fuel fragments cold enough to remain stable.

The most dangerous wildlife

(A photo taken by one of the researchers visiting snake island)

There are dangerous animals in every single country on earth, but most of them can either be avoided or defended against, but this isn’t the case with Snake Island. Off the coast of Brazil lies a small island called Ilha da Queimada Grande, also known as Snake Island. It has a large population of golden lancehead vipers, which are spread across the entire island at a ratio of up to 5 snakes for every square meter of land. It is illegal to go here for obvious reasons, but if you found yourself stranded here it would be impossible to avoid getting bitten by the very deadly snakes that cover every part of the land.

The highest place on earth

This is of course Mount Everest which sits on the border between Nepal and China in the Himalayas. It is the tallest mountain on earth and reaches a height of 8,849 m, but it technically isn’t the tallest mountain from base to summit. In Hawaii sits a mountain called Mauna Kea, which from base to peak measures 10,205m, but the reason this isn’t known as the tallest on earth is that more than half of it is underwater, leaving the exposed part far from the height of Everest.

The lowest place on earth

(The Dead Sea is so salty that it collects in layers on the banks, it’s also a popular tourist spot because the high salt content makes people float much easier)

The Dead Sea is a large body of water that sits between Jordan and Israel, covering a total of 605 km², and is officially the lowest place on earth not covered by the sea. Even though its name suggests otherwise, it is a huge lake and the fourth saltiest place on earth, with the high salt content being due to the lack of tides and slow out-flow of the lake. The surface of the lake sits at 430 meters below sea level, and the maximum depth is 304 meters, making it the deepest hypersaline lake on earth.