Death Valley 130-Degree Reading Possibly the Planet's Hottest Recorded Temperature in at Least 89 Years

 Jonathan Erdman

Published: August 17, 2020

Death Valley, California, may have recorded one of the planet's hottest air temperatures Sunday.

Sunday's high topped out at 130 degrees near the Furnace Creek Visitor Center in Death Valley National Park, about 100 miles west-northwest of Las Vegas.

If that extreme temperature is verified, it would be only the fourth time on record they've reached at least 130 degrees, and the first time since the record heat wave of July 1913.

Given the rarity and extremity of this reading, a committee of meteorologists and climatologists will conduct a formal review of the data and automated observation system to see if this temperature record will be accepted, according to a National Weather Service statement and the World Meteorological Organization, which maintains official global weather records.

According to the NWS office in Las Vegas, which has forecast responsibility for Death Valley National Park, the official automated temperature sensor at Furnace Creek is rated to measure temperatures up to 158 degrees to an accuracy of 0.018 degrees, is regularly maintained and was "in proper working condition" at the time of the 130-degree high.

An unofficial digital thermometer at the visitor's center, which typically measures temperatures a couple of degrees hotter than the official reading since it's mounted on several metal posts which radiate heat, malfunctioned Sunday.

Named by prospectors trying to cross the desolate valley during the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century, Death Valley holds the world record for hottest recorded temperature, 134 degrees, set July 10, 1913.

According to the NWS in Las Vegas, the official observer in Death Valley later noted concern that the temperature was actually higher that day, as the official thermometer only read up to 135 degrees, while other thermometers at Greenland Ranch read higher.

They also reached 130 degrees two other times in that July 1913 heat wave, on the 12th (130 degrees) and 13th (131).

However, a detailed blog published in October 2016 by climatologist William Reid and weather historian Christopher Burt concluded the 134-degree Death Valley high in 1913 "was essentially not possible from a meteorological perspective, using an officially sanctioned USWB (U.S. Weather Bureau – the predecessor to the NWS) shelter and thermometer and following proper procedures observationally." They attributed these extreme temperatures in 1913 to observer error.

Death Valley has reached 129 degrees seven times in its records dating to 1911, most recently on July 1, 2013, according to NOAA's ACIS database.

The thermometer at the Furnace Creek resort already reads 120 degrees before noon in Death Valley National Park, Friday, June 28, 2013, in Furnace Creek, California.

A 130-degree high would also be a rarity anywhere in the world.

According to the World Meteorological Organization, the highest temperature recorded anywhere in the Eastern Hemisphere was 131 degrees in Kebili, Tunisia, on July 7, 1931.

However, international weather records expert Maximiliano Hererra disputes the Tunisian temperature due to poor exposure of the thermometer.

The highest temperature on record in Asia, according to the WMO, is 129 degrees – 53.9 degrees Celsius – in Mitribah, Kuwait, on July 21, 2016.

Therefore, Sunday's Death Valley high may have been the world's hottest air temperature since the July 1913 heat wave. And if the official 134-degree Death Valley record from 1913 was observer error, as the Reid and Burt blog suggested, Hererra noted Sunday's 130-degree high could be the world's first verified, reliable 130-degree air temperature.

(MORE: The Hottest Temperatures in All 50 States)

Among locations without regular temperature observations, the Dallol Depression in northern Ethiopia is thought to be the world's hottest permanently-inhabited place.

Why Is It So Hot in Death Valley?

Furnace Creek, home of the Death Valley National Park Visitor's Center where the official temperature reading is taken, is roughly 190 feet below sea level. Since air warms as it descends, that extra elevation plunge adds extra heat.

Secondly, just 2.29 inches of precipitation falls each year in the valley, on average. Contrast that to the average evaporation rate of 150 inches a year. It's no wonder there's a dry lake bed there.

Most Pacific storm systems have the lion's share of their moisture taken away by four mountain ranges to the west of Death Valley. Their wettest month, February, averages only 0.56 inches of precipitation.

Amazingly, despite this desert environment, destructive floods are not uncommon.

Runners gather for a photo at largely dried-out Badwater Basin before the start of the 135-mile Kiehl's Badwater Ultramarathon in July 2007 in Death Valley National Park.

Typical Death Valley Heat

Death Valley's heat, even in an average year, is likely beyond anything most have experienced before.

Consider these eye-popping statistics:

• Average number of 100-degree or hotter days per year: 143 days
• Average first/last date of 100-degree heat: April 16/Oct. 10
• Average number of 80-degree or hotter daily lows per year: 84 days

So, just under five months of the year, you can expect a triple-digit high, and just under three months out of the year, morning low temperatures don't drop below 80 degrees.

Now, let's really turn the heat up.

• Average number of 120-degree-plus days per year: 19 days
• Average number of 90-degree-plus daily lows per year: 25 days
• Average number of 100-degree-plus daily lows per year: 1 day

To place 120 degrees into perspective, that is the all-time state record high in Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Texas.

Can you imagine living in a place where the daily low temperature is in the 90s? We'll come back to that later.

Again, these are average conditions in Death Valley.

The Not-as-Infamous Records

Now, let's detail some other factoids about Death Valley's weather, including its incredible lack of precipitation – also a contributor to its extreme heat.

• A ground temperature once reached 201 degrees on July 15, 1972. That's just 11 degrees shy of the boiling point of water. The air temperature that day reached 128 degrees.
• On July 5, 1918, the daily low temperature only dropped to 110 degrees, a world record hottest daily low. That daily Death Valley low is higher than the all-time high temperature in all six New England states, New York, Maryland, Florida, Alaska and Hawaii.
• On April 22, 2012, the hottest temperature on record during the month of April in North America was recorded in Death Valley: 113 degrees.
• In 1929 and 1953, no rain was recorded in Death Valley. For 40 straight months between 1931 and 1934, less than one total inch of rain fell – 0.64 inches, to be exact – in what is still its longest dry spell on record.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.