Death Valley National Park Breaks Several Heat Records This Summer
DEATH VALLEY (CBSLA) – The hottest place on Earth is getting hotter.
Several heat records were broken between June and August at Death Valley National Park, which marks "a continued record of a changing climate," park officials said.
"Death Valley National Park is known for its extreme temperatures, and this year certainly didn't disappoint when it comes to heat," Superintendent Mike Reynolds said in a statement.
Death Valley National Park made news when a preliminary temperature of 130 degrees was recorded on Aug. 16 at Furnace Creek. Officials say a climate extremes committee is in the process of verifying the record as the hottest temperature in the world since 1913.
The day after that possible global heat record, Death Valley had a high of 127 degrees and a low of 104 degrees, for an average of 115.5. That ties for the hottest average daily temperature ever recorded.
The park set heat records for both the daily high and highest daily low temperatures – six in May, one in June, one in July, 12 in August and three to date in September.
May, August, and September in Death Valley all saw the hottest day or night recorded for that month. August 2020 was the second hottest on record with a daily high temperature averaging out to 118.8 degrees, a record for the hottest average high temperature for the month.
But that's not all. Death Valley National Park saw 35 days with temperatures over 120 degrees, compared to a normal of 18.4 days. There were also eight days with temperatures 125 degrees, a jump from a normal of 2.9 days. The nights in Death Valley are also getting hotter, with six nights of temperatures over 100 degrees, up sharply from a normal of 0.5 days.
