Jeff Masters reported on the Weather Underground blog yesterday that a new global record high temperature for October was recorded on October 27 in South Africa. The temperature of 119 °F was observed at Vredendal and is the third highest temperature ever observed in South Africa.
Masters says, “The new global October heat record was made possible by a “Berg wind”–a hot dry wind blowing down the Great Escarpment from the high central plateau to the coast. As the air descended it warmed via adiabatic compression, causing the record heat. These sorts of foehn winds are commonly responsible for all-time record temperatures; mainland Antarctica’s all-time record high of 17.5°C (63.5°F), set on March 24, 2015, was due, in part, to a foehn wind.”
You can read more about Foehn winds here at Wikipedia.
