Earth’s Hot Spots This Week: The 10 Hottest Places in the World

By Paul Harrison, Orbis Weather · Saturday, October 31, 2026 · Week of October 24-30, 2026

At a glance

The hottest reading of the week was 111°F (44°C) at Podor, Senegal, on Saturday, October 24.

• West Africa’s Atlantic side led the week: Senegal and Mauritania hold five of the 11 places, mostly from October 24 to 26.
• Australia’s top official reading was 107°F (41.7°C) at Kununurra on October 24, from the Bureau of Meteorology.
• The cut-off was 106°F (41°C), shared by six places, so 11 places make the list. Eight more places just missed it.
• The Gulf and Iraq, which dominate northern summer lists, did not reach the top 10. The US Southwest stayed below 90°F on October 27, the day checked.

National weather services issue heat warnings for their own countries and are the source to follow for local conditions.

The 10 hottest places

Each place appears once, at its hottest reading of October 24-30. Airport reports are whole °C, converted and rounded to the nearest °F; Kununurra uses the official Bureau of Meteorology figure.

The six-way tie at 106°F (41°C) takes the list to 11 places. Just missing out were Derby, Australia, at 105°F (40.3°C, official), and seven places at 104°F (40°C): Linguère and Diourbel (Senegal), Dag Dag (Mali), Niamey (Niger), Al-Ahsa and Dammam (Saudi Arabia) and Kariba (Zimbabwe).

Data: Iowa Environmental Mesonet daily summaries · Bureau of Meteorology, Kununurra, October 2026

Where the heat was

The week’s peak came early in western Senegal and Mauritania, then eased, while heat held steadier inland in the Sahel and in northern Australia.

Senegal and Mauritania. Podor stayed at 108°F (42°C) on October 25 and 26, then fell to 100°F (38°C) from October 28 to 30. Nouakchott followed the same pattern, dropping to 99°F (37°C) on October 28 and 29. Senegal’s weather agency, ANACIM, said in its October 26 bulletin that maximums would range “entre 36 et 43 °C” (97 to 109°F) in the interior.

Inland Sahel. Readings in Mali, Niger and Chad sat mostly between 97°F and 104°F (36-40°C) all week. N’Djamena warmed late, from 100°F (38°C) on October 24 to its peak on the final day.

Southern Africa. Ondangwa’s peak was followed by 91°F (33°C) on October 26 and a rebound to 102°F (39°C) on October 28. Maun in Botswana and Mpacha in Namibia reached 102°F (39°C) at their highest.

Northern Australia. Kununurra’s official maximum stayed between 40.7°C and 41.7°C (105-107°F) on every day with a reported figure. Nearby Derby climbed from 36.0°C (97°F) on October 24 to its week high on October 30.

Arabia and India. Saudi Arabia’s eastern stations peaked at 104°F (40°C), below the 111°F (44°C) Dammam reached on October 9 and 12. Rajkot cooled after its peak, to 99-100°F (37-38°C) from October 28 to 30.

What to watch next week

The places to watch are the ones where heat lasted all week: northern Australia, the inland Sahel and northern Senegal.

• Northern Australia: Kununurra and Derby ended the week above 40°C. The Bureau of Meteorology issues Australia’s forecasts and heatwave warnings.
• Senegal: ANACIM, Senegal’s civil aviation and meteorology agency, publishes the national daily forecast bulletins.
• Chad and Niger: N’Djamena and Niamey were still at or near their week highs on October 29 and 30. Each country’s national meteorological service issues local forecasts.

About this list

The list ranks daily maximums from airport weather reports for October 24-30, 2026 (UTC dates), taken from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet. Hourly airport reports can miss the true peak between observations and are rounded to whole °C. Places without airport reports are not covered, and Sudan and Djibouti returned no data. Readings of 115-122°F (46-50°C) at Arauca, Colombia, were excluded because they ran far above every nearby station on the days checked.

Glossary

• METAR: the standard routine weather report issued by airports, usually hourly.
• Daily maximum: the highest temperature recorded during one calendar day.
• Synoptic station: a weather station that reports to the World Meteorological Organization at fixed times each day.
• Official figure: a national weather service’s quality-controlled value, here given to a tenth of a degree.

Frequently asked questions

Where was the hottest place on Earth this week? Podor, in northern Senegal, recorded the week’s highest airport reading on October 24. It stayed at or above 100°F (38°C) on every day of the week.

Why does Earthweek list Podor at 112°F? Earthweek’s October 30 column gives “112°F (44°C) at Podor, Senegal” from WMO synoptic stations. Both sources show 44°C. Airport reports use whole degrees, and 44°C converts to 111.2°F, so this list shows 111°F.

Why is Kununurra given to a tenth of a degree? The Bureau of Meteorology publishes official daily maximums to 0.1°C. Its 41.7°C on October 24 was higher than the 40°C in that day’s airport summary, so the official value is used.

Did forecasters expect the heat in Senegal? Yes. ANACIM’s bulletin of October 26 said maximums “pourraient atteindre 43 °C” (could reach 109°F) in the interior. Podor reached 42°C (108°F) that day.

Sources

• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Senegal airports, October 24, 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Mauritania airports, October 25, 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Ondangwa, October 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Australia airports, October 25, 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Mali airports, October 24, 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Chad airports, October 30, 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, India airports, October 25, 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Saudi Arabia airports, October 28, 2026
• Iowa Environmental Mesonet, Arauca, October 2026
• Bureau of Meteorology, Kununurra Daily Weather Observations, October 2026
• Bureau of Meteorology, Derby Daily Weather Observations, October 2026
• Bureau of Meteorology, Warnings and alerts
• Earthweek, Week Ending October 30, 2026
• Senego, Bulletin de l’ANACIM, October 26, 2026
• Seneweb, Climat : Temps sec, forte chaleur et fin progressive de l’hivernage, October 26, 2026