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Hottest Place on Earth: Exploring Death Valley
What would make someone want to travel to one of the hottest places in the country, for fun? That's what FOX Weather's Robert Ray intends to find out. More than one million people travel to the park every year.
If there was any doubt that Death Valley is the hottest place on Earth, look no further than July’s preliminary climate summary that shows the region experienced its warmest month on record with an average temperature of 108.5 degrees.
Situated between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert, the barren landscape sits at the lowest altitude in North America, which allows the heat to pile on.
During most of July, a ridge of high pressure was in control of weather patterns across the Southwest, which allowed for warm overnight lows and sizzling afternoon highs across many observation sites across the West.
Furnace Creek Visitor Center at Death Valley National Park, where a display shows the temperature. (Death Valley National Park / NPS / FOX Weather)
According to data from the National Weather Service’s Death Valley observation site, the monthly average low temperature was a balmy 95.2 degrees, while the average high for the month was 121.9 degrees.
These extreme temperatures pushed the average monthly thermometer reading to 108.5 degrees – a new record for the park and indeed possibly the world.
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While the mean monthly temperature was an apparent record, the daily record high temperature, which has been in place for more than 110 years, was not surpassed during the warm extremes.
The hottest daily temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134 degrees at Furnace Creek Ranch on July 10, 1913.
During July 2024, the highest temperature at the park reached 129 degrees, which was about five degrees below the historical reading.
Heat-related deaths in Death Valley
Despite the warm weather, Death Valley National Park sees more than a million visitors every year, which occasionally leads to problems.
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In July, park staff reported that a man received what were described as "full-thickness" third-degree burns simply from walking on sand dunes without shoes.
The heat was so intense that a rescue helicopter was unable to land in the valley due to reduced lift.
In a separate incident, at least one motorcyclist died after spending too much time in the blazing sun, according to NPS staff.
Fatalities at the park are not unusual, with around five occurring each year due to a variety of causes, including extreme weather.
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Temperature departure from average during June and July 2024.
Unrelenting summer
The record heat has many communities across the West experiencing a season that is warmer than a typical summer.
Cities such as Las Vegas in Nevada, Sacramento in California and Phoenix in Arizona are all on track to see their warmest season on record, with temperatures averaging 5-10 degrees above normal.
The East Coast is experiencing similar conditions, with numerous observation sites reporting their warmest summers on record.
The country’s heartland appears to be the only anomaly, with temperatures that have been around or below average through the first two months of meteorological summer.
Communities around Minneapolis-St. Paul in Minnesota and Shreveport in Louisiana are experiencing summer months that could rank among some of the coolest in the last century of record-keeping.
Summer temperature rankings for June and July 2024.
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