Where was the coldest temperature recorded? Antarctica or Siberia?
A Russian research station captured a temperature reading of -128.6 degrees in 1983.
What was the highest wind speed in human history? 407 or 287 kilometres per hour?
407. It was recorded in Australia in 1996 as part of Tropical Cyclone Oliva.
What is the driest (non-polar) desert on Earth? The Atacama Desert (western coast of South America) or the Sahara (northern Africa)?
The Atacama. The Atacama gets an average of 15 mm per year while the Sahara averages 76 mm.
What does the World Bank estimate to be the most expensive natural disaster in world history? The Tohoku Disaster (2011 Japan) or The Sichuan Earthquake (2008 China).
The Tohoku Disaster is estimated to have cost $235 billion and killed almost 16,000 people. The Sichuan Earthquake cost $145 billion but killed 69,197 people.
Which country experiences the greatest number of tornadoes? China or the United States?
The United States. The US has about 1,000 twisters a year, while China has 10.
What's the average high temperature in January in Oymyakon, Russia? -42.5 or -28.9 degrees celsius
-42.5. Only a few people live there.
In 1936, how big were the hailstones that struck during a severe storm in South Africa? The size of bowling balls or coconuts?
Coconuts. Between 10 and 30 people were killed by the coconut-size hailstones.
What was the highest temperature ever reliably recorded at Death Valley in California, 57.2 or 54.4 degrees celsius?
54.4. On July 9, 2021, the location tied the record for the world
Roy Sullivan, nicknamed the Human Lightning Conductor, was struck by lightning how many times in his life? 5 or 7?
7 times. He lived to be 71 years old. The chances of being struck even once during that time are less than 1:10,000.
You know the saying, raining cats and dogs, but it does occasionally rain animals. Which animal has been reported falling from the skies? Frogs or mice?
Frogs. It is believed frogs as well as spiders, jellyfish, fish, and other animals, are picked up by tornadoes before being dropped back to the ground.
