Scorching temperature in US's Death Valley could be global high

A temperature of 54.4 degrees Celsius recorded in California's Death Valley on Sunday by the US National Weather Service could be the hottest global temperature ever measured with modern instruments.

The reading was registered by an automated observation system at 3:41 pm at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in the US national park. The Geneva-based World Meteorological Organization said it would start the process to verify the reading, which it said "would be the hottest global temperature officially recorded since 1931." The southwestern United States is currently enduring an intense heat wave. Worldwide, the five hottest years in history have occurred in the last five years, heightening fears about the impact of climate change and gas emissions.