The Hottest Place in the World

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Jun 28, 7:30AM EDT

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As temperatures in Texas top 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and in some places 105, the hottest place in the world is thousands of miles away. It is over 118° F in Arafat (Mount Arafat), Saudi Arabia. (These 27 countries face the worst climate change catastrophes.)
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Arafat is a small mountain near Mecca. At its peak, it is less than 1,500 feet above sea level. Some Arab traditions name it as the place where Muhammad gave his “Farewell Sermon.”
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Arafat is in the middle of Saudi Arabia, between Israel and Yemen, and close to the Red Sea.

Mount Arafat is a significant part of the Muslim religion. “According to traditional sayings of the prophet, the Day of Arafat is the most sacred day of the year, when God draws near to the faithful and forgives their sins.” The number of pilgrims can reach nearly 2 million a day.
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The average high temperature in Arafat is over 100° F a day from May through September. In March, April, October and November, it is over 90.
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Arafat is in an area of the Middle East where temperatures are often over 100 degrees per day. This includes parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Iran to the northwest.

These places could be uninhabitable within a few years as average temperatures rise another five degrees. Despite this, because of religious tradition, pilgrims will continue to go there—for as long as possible.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.