The hottest inhabited place is Dallol in Ethiopia, whose annual mean temperature was recorded from 1960 to 1966 as 34.4 degrees C. The average daily maximum temperature during the same period was 41.1 degree C. The fastest recorded temperature rise is 27 degree C in two minutes in Spearfish, South Dakota, Jan. 22, 1943. The most consecutive days above 37.8 degree C is a record 160 days in Marble Bar, Western Australia from Oct. 31,1923 to April 7, 1924. __