Much of Australia was sizzling in a pre-summer heatwave earlier this week, with Sydney Airport even briefly Becoming the hottest place on earth on Wendnesday recording a temperature of 38.2 degrees.
But even that steamy thermostat reading pales in comparison to the hottest places on Earth, where temperatures in summer can average as much as 45C for weeks at a time.
Here are the hottest air temperatures ever recorded – the places where crops shrivel, people can’t go outside after 8am and you can cook a steak on the ground.
