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One of the hottest air temperatures on record anywhere on the planet for at least a century, and possibly never, was reached in Death Valley in California’s Mojave Desert, where it soared at 54.4 Celsius (130 Fahrenheit).
An automated observing system operated by the US National Weather Service in the sparsely populated Furnace Creek Valley reported the record at 3:41 p.m. (10:41 p.m. GMT) Sunday at the peak of an extreme heat wave, a more common occurrence in due to climate change.
It was a dry heat: the humidity fell to 7%. But it was still “unbelievably hot,” according to meteorologist Daniel Berc of the Las Vegas meteorological office. A heat wave ravaging much of the western United States would continue through the week, he said on Monday.
“It’s literally like being in an oven,” he said in a telephone interview. “Today is another day, we could take another 130F run.”
On Monday, tourists took selfies using an unofficial outdoor thermometer at the Death Valley Visitor Center while avoiding touching metal surfaces with bare skin.
Those who live and work in Furnace Creek, which had a population of 24 at the 2010 census, saw cause for concern in the case.
“We are seeing more and more records broken on a daily and monthly basis,” said Brandi Stewart, a public information officer for Death Valley National Park who can view the Furnace Creek weather station from her window. “It is significant that we are seeing more records breaking.”
Effects of climate change
A temperature of 134 ° F (56.7 ° C) was recorded in Death Valley in July 1913, and Kebili, Tunisia, would have reached 131 ° F in July 1931, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
But recent research by Christopher Burt, a specialist in extreme weather conditions, has led some meteorologists to view these older records as the result of an observer error.
Climate change has pushed global temperatures to new heights. In Europe, northern Spain broke local heat records in July, while wheat fields in France caught fire.
Forests in Siberian Russia are experiencing unprecedented wildfires, while Arctic sea ice fell to an all-time high in July due to the melt.
On Monday, a visitor to Death Valley National Park attempts to fry an egg amid the extreme heat of the area. [David Becker/Reuters]
The summer heat is so often extreme that tourists are warned to drink at least four liters (one gallon) of water each day, carry extra water in their car, stay close to their vehicle, and watch themselves and monitor others for dizziness, nausea, and other symptoms of life-threatening heat illness.
In Furnace Creek, staff and guests at The Oasis were urged to wear hats and relentlessly sip water outside, according to general manager John Kukreja.
He tells the guests that the extreme heat does strange and deceptive things on the body.
“You’re going to sweat, and the sweat will dry instantly, and you’ll never know you’re really hot,” he says. “Your hair is standing on end. It’s almost like you’re cold, like goosebumps.”
The extreme heat has also started fires in the area.
A fiery tornado formed during a bushfire near Chilcoot, California on Saturday, made worse by the western heatwave.
The fire “was burning so incredibly intense, so there is so much heat in it” that the air rose in a vortex, just like what happens in some thunderstorms, said Dawn Johnson, senior meteorologist in the National office. Weather Service in Reno, Nevada. .
“It almost looks like a bomb went off.”
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