2023-07-17 04:22:00
Long considered the hottest place on Earth, Death Valley on Sunday added an even hotter twist to a record-breaking hot summer that is baking nearly the entire planet as it approaches some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded. said meteorologists.
Temperatures in Death Valley, which straddles part of central California’s border with Nevada, were forecast to reach 128 degrees Fahrenheit (53.33 degrees Celsius) on Sunday in the town of Furnace Creek, The National Weather Service said.
The hottest temperature ever recorded was 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.67 degrees Celsius) in July 1913 at Furnace Creek, said Randy Ceverny of the World Meteorological Organization, which keeps records of world climate records. Temperatures of 130ºF (54.44ºC) or higher have only been recorded on Earth a few times, mainly in Death Valley.
“With global warming, such temperatures are increasingly likely to occur,” Ceverny, WMO’s records coordinator, said in an email. “Long term: global warming is causing higher and more frequent temperature extremes. Short term: This particular weekend (temperatures) are being driven by a very, very strong upper-level ridge of high pressure over the western United States.”
In Death Valley on Sunday, forecasters were tracking high clouds in the area that might keep temperatures at bay.
“Today it looks like the all-time record is in no danger of being broken,” said Matt Woods, a meteorologist with the Las Vegas office of the National Weather Service, which monitors Death Valley.
The heat wave is just one part of the extreme weather that has hit the United States over the weekend. Four people died in Pennsylvania on Saturday when heavy rains caused a flash flood that washed away several cars. Three other people, including a 9-month-old baby and a 2-year-old girl, were still missing. In Vermont, officials have raised concerns regarding landslides as rains continue following days of flooding.
Death Valley’s brutal temperatures come amid a scorching heat spell that has put roughly a third of Americans under some form of heat watch, watch, or warning. Las Vegas also faced the possibility of reaching a heat milestone on Sunday, and residents from Sacramento to Phoenix have dealt with days of temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius) and little relief at night.
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