<div>From Dr. Jeff Masters' website on weather and climate:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1563">http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1563</a></div>
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<div><strong><font size="3">Cyprus records its hottest temperature in history yesterday<br></font></strong>The island of Cyprus recorded its hottest temperature in its history on August 1, 2010 when the mercury hit 46.6°C (115.9°F) at <a onclick="if(!checkUrl(this.href)) return false;" href="http://www.ogimet.com/cgi-bin/gsynres?lang=en&ind=17515&ndays=30&ano=2010&mes=08&day=01&hora=18&ord=REV&Send=Send" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Lefconica</a>. The old record for Cyprus was 44.4°C (111.9°F) at Lefkosia in August 1956. An older record of 46.6°C from July 1888 was reported from Nicosia, but is of questionable reliability.<br>
<br>The year 2010 is now tied with 2007 as the year with the most national extreme heat records--fifteen. There has been one country that has recorded its coldest temperature on record in 2010; see <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1559" target="_blank">my post last week</a> for a list of the 2010 records. My source for extreme weather records is the excellent book <a onclick="if(!checkUrl(this.href)) return false;" href="http://www.extremeweatherguide.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Extreme Weather</a> by Chris Burt. His new updates (not yet published) remove a number of old disputed records. Keep in mind that the matter of determining extreme records is very difficult, and it is often a judgment call as to whether an old record is reliable or not. For example, one of 2007's fifteen extreme hottest temperature records is for the U.S.--the 129°F recorded at Death Valley that year. Most weather record books list 1913 as the year the hottest temperature in the U.S. occurred, when Greenland Ranch in Death Valley hit 134°F. However, as explained in a recent <a onclick="if(!checkUrl(this.href)) return false;" href="http://www.weatherwise.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2010/July-August%202010/retrospect-full.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Weatherwise article</a>, that record is questionable, since it occurred during a sandstorm when hot sand may have wedged against the thermometer, artificially inflating the temperature. Mr. Burt's list of 225 countries with extreme heat records includes islands that are not independent countries, such as Puerto Rico and Greenland. Seventy four extreme hottest temperature records have been set in the past ten years (33% of all countries.) For comparison, 14 countries set extreme coldest temperature records over the past ten years (6% of all countries). I thank Mr. Burt and weather record researchers Maximiliano Herrera and Howard Rainford for their assistance identifying this year's new extreme temperature records.<br>
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<div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div>