Hottest day ever: 129.2 degrees in Ahvaz, Iran

June 30 (UPI) -- The city of Ahvaz, Iran, recorded a temperature of 129.2 degrees Fahrenheit, meteorologists said, tying the record for the highest recorded temperature on earth.

At two moments on Thursday afternoon, the meteorological service Weather Underground reported, the temperature in the southwestern Iranian city hit 129.2 degrees, although Etienne Kapikian of the French weather service MeteoFrance said it hit 53.7 degrees Celsius, or 128.7 degrees Fahrenheit. She referred to the temperature as a "new absolute record of reliable Iranian heat." Iran's previous high temperature was 127.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Weather historian Christopher Burt said the record temperature in Ahvaz, if legitimate, would tie readings posted in Kuwait in 2016 and in Death Valley, Calif., in 2013 as the hottest credible temperature measurements in modern records. The data will require review from the World Metrological Organization.

A world-record temperature of 134 degrees, set in 1913 in Death Valley, is not regarded as reliable by modern meteorologists.

The high temperature in Ahvaz, a city of 1.1 million people, was the second day of extreme heat and it arrived with high humidity. The city's heat index -- a measure of how hot the ambient environment feels, factoring temperature and humidity – exceeded 140 degrees, essentially off the scale of the heat index.

Cooler weather is predicted for Friday in Ahvaz, with temperatures expected to reach 119 degrees Fahrenheit.