An automated measuring system in California’s Death Valley reported a temperature of 130F (54.4C) amid a blistering heatwave on Sunday, a reading that is one of the highest ever recorded globally if it is confirmed.
The temperature was recorded at 3.41pm at Furnace Creek near the park’s visitor centre, the National Weather Service said.
“If verified, this will be the hottest temperature officially verified since July of 1913, also at Death Valley. As this is an extreme temperature event, the recorded temperature will need to undergo a formal review,” the statement said.
The location holds the world record for highest temperature ever recorded — 134F (56.67C) — set on July 10 1913. That record, however, remains in dispute.
The World Meteorological Organisation said in a tweet that it also will work to verify Sunday’s measurement.
“This would be the hottest global temperature officially recorded since 1931,” it said.
That temperature was 131F (55C) recorded in Kebili, Tunisia, on July 7, 1931, and it also is disputed.
Death Valley, an austere landscape in the desert of south-eastern California, includes Badwater Basin, which at 282ft (85.9m) below sea level is the lowest point in North America.
“It’s an oppressive heat and it’s in your face,” Brandi Stewart, who works at Death Valley National Park, told the BBC. “When you walk outside it’s like being hit in the face with a bunch of hairdryers,” she said. “You feel the heat and it’s like walking into an oven and the heat is just all around you.”
Summer heat is so routinely extreme that tourists are warned to drink at least a gallon (4ltr) of water each day, carry additional water in their cars, stay close to their vehicles and watch themselves and others for dizziness, nausea and other symptoms of potentially deadly heat illness.
Related – Siberia heatwave ‘impossible’ without manmade climate change
Since you are here
Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.
Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.
Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.
If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.
To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.
The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.
The shop can be found here.
You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .
