We Found the WORST Weather on Earth

The maps that zoom in and show elevation/topography while still showing you the actual landscape are absolutely * chef's kiss * incredible, they illustrate the point so well and help me understand WHY these events happen so much more

Perhaps an even bigger contributor to the Atacama's aridity that went unmentioned is the Humboldt current, which brings very cold antarctic surface waters up along the Chilean and Peruvian coasts to almost the Ecuador border. This is why there are penguins living on offshore islands at Paracas, why those coasts are shrouded in fog for much of the year, and why, despite being at only 15 degrees south latitude, firmly within the tropics, Lima has average annual temperatures similar to Los Angeles (34 degress north), though with much less rain. This very cold surface ocean water cools the air above, resulting in much lower water carrying capacity, and thus no ability for this cold moist foggy air to produce any rain.

9:16 Glad they could get footage of how our grandpas got to school back in the day.

Lol, I live in NH and spent most of the video wondering why Mt. Washington wasn’t mentioned when talking about wind speeds. Now I’m wondering why I need to keep relearning patience; you got me. 😅

I'm a Wellingtonian and the wind is very handy for running but not feeling tired. It does the work for you. The gaps between buildings can funnel it to pretty dramatic affect too. However you don't notice it much day-to-day

When mentioning hot places I think other places worth mentioning are: - Basra, Irak, which has some of the highest summer temperatures for a large city (Death valley may be hotter but it is also basically uninhabited). - Bangkok, Thailand, which has one of the highest average wet bulb temperatures (not extremely hot, but an extreme combination of humidity and heat all year round). - Dallol in the Danakil Depression, Ethiopia, which is like if you placed Yellowstone into Death Valley. The peak temperatures aren’t as high as in Death Valley, but there is also nothing resembling winter there and the yearly average temperature is an insane 34C/94F.

There are still plants growing in the Atacama, they scoop up moisture from the fog. "Crime pays but botany doesn't" has several vids exploring both the fog deserts at the coast and inland Chile. it's a great watch if you like a sharp tongue, a thicc Chicago accent, pungent seals, sketchy climbs, and weirrrrd ass plants ^^

I was born and raised in New England and was always regaled with stories about how Mt Washington had "the Worst Weather" and after having been all over the US and learned about other places and even lived a dozen years in Colorado I had wondered how that was possible. I started looking into it and it's been hard to convince me over the years but yeah, they just seem to have the confluence of factors just right and you summed them nicely here. It's really kind of wild, I mean look at the satellite imagery, the top of that mountain is just bare rock at just 6000ft, it gets hammered year round!

I definitely agree Mt. Washington takes the cake by having all those forces align to make it so devilishly difficult weather wise... And I say this as an Albertan who had to permanently flee my house this year due to wildfires after suffering from both -40c and +40c temps the year before...

Yay! As a New Hampshire resident, I am happy whenever we are mentioned! Mt. Washington really is quite an anomaly and it's always fun to see what temperature it is compared to the rest of the state

Hello from Wellington New Zealand. It’s very still here today. I have lived here for 50 years and I am convinced the weather has changed and it’s not as windy as it used to be! I don’t know if data would back me up.

Fantastic review. Not just a 'worst weather' list like some clicky channels, but also WHY these areas have such extreme weather. I guess that's the PBS touch! In a part 2, if you do a follow up, I'd like to know where the most humid area is on Earth, as in something like the wet bulb temperature...a place that might be deadly to humans because the humidity is so high you can't sweat.

I agree with the label of the worst weather. Many times we think of the worst weather as the most destructive weather. However, I feel the label of worst to most destructive enters in when one discusses the impact on humans/communities. Love your videos !!!!!

Mt Washington is along the storm track off the Great Lakes and the one along the eastern seaboard/gulf stream. It’s likewise near where the jet stream is located.

The East coast of Greenland has the worst weather outside Antarctica, especially the South East. People have tried to live there in the past, but have given up.

Fun fact: Antarctica has only 2 inches of precipitation a year, same as Death Valley.

Atacama desert isn't just very dry, portions of it are also very high altitude - high enough that you need some sort of respirator and water would boil at very low temperatures.

10:00 The way he's sliding and bumping around like a curling stone 😂😂I'm literally LOLi

I really enjoyed listening to her, extremely helpful and intelligent. Knowledgeable

Death Valley is in a graben, just like Verkhoyansk Russia. That is why they are the hottest and coldest places on earth respectively. You explained it well, but a graben is a valley between two mountain ranges.