This is a list of weather records, a list of the most extreme occurrences of weather phenomena for various categories. Many weather records are measured under specific conditions—such as surface temperature and wind speed—to keep consistency among measurements around the Earth. Each of these records is understood to be the record value officially observed, as these records may have been exceeded before modern weather instrumentation was invented, or in remote areas without an official weather station. This list does not include remotely sensed observations such as satellite measurements, since those values are not considered official records. Temperature Measuring conditions The standard measuring conditions for temperature are in the air, to above the ground, and shielded from direct sunlight intensity (hence the term x degrees "in the shade"). The following lists include all officially confirmed claims measured by those methods. Temperatures measured directly on the ground may exceed air temperatures by . The highest natural ground surface temperature ever recorded may have been an alleged reading of at Furnace Creek, California, United States, on 15 July 1972. In recent years a ground temperature of was recorded in Port Sudan, Sudan. The theoretical maximum possible ground surface temperature has been estimated to be between for dry, darkish soils of low thermal conductivity. Satellite measurements of ground temperature taken between 2003 and 2009, taken with the MODIS infrared spectroradiometer on the Aqua satellite, found a maximum temperature of , which was recorded in 2005 in the Lut Desert, Iran. The Lut Desert was also found to have the highest maximum temperature in five of the seven years measured (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009). These measurements reflect averages over a large region and so are lower than the maximum point surface temperature. Satellite measurements of the surface temperature of Antarctica, taken between 1982 and 2013, found a coldest temperature of on 10 August 2010, at . Although this is not comparable to an air temperature, it is believed that the air temperature at this location would have been lower than the official record lowest air temperature of . Hottest Highest temperatures ever recorded According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the highest temperature ever recorded was on 10 July 1913 in Furnace Creek (Greenland Ranch), California, United States, but the validity of this record is challenged as possible problems with the reading have since been discovered. Christopher C. Burt, a weather historian writing