Death Valley Breaks Own Heat Record For Hottest Temperature In The World

Last month, California’s Death Valley National Park broke the world heat record by witnessing temperatures higher than any other place on the planet.

The average temperature for July 2018 in the valley soared up to a whopping 42.3 degrees Celsius (108.1 degrees Fahrenheit), Brian Brettschneider, a contributor at Forbes and a climate scientist at the University of Alaska, reported. This was nearly half a degree higher than the region’s last year figures that broke a 100-year-long heat record.

The fact that Death Valley smashed the world record two years in a row is pretty unusual, but it is worth noting that the region has witnessed high temperatures from time to time. In 1913, it posted the hottest day ever recorded on Earth with temperatures of 56.7 degrees Celsius (134 degrees Fahrenheit).

The reason for these extremes, as the report stressed, is the valley’s location below sea level and the Sierra Nevada Mountains that prevent clouds from forming. This takes away rain and moisture from the desert, leaving it to trap solar radiation.

Typically, the region sees some 20-30 days in a year where temperatures go above 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), but 21 days of last month alone witnessed temperatures at this mark with four days going as high as 53 degrees Celsius (127 degrees Fahrenheit). The remaining 10 days remained well above 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

The temperature estimates come from the valley’s official weather station Furnace Creek, which has been operating since 1911, although the World Meteorological Organization still has to verify that information. The measurement is taken by first calculating the average temperature for each day and then using that average to pinpoint the temperature for the month.

That said, it is worth noting that apart from Death Valley, other regions of the U.S. also witnessed highs in July, with many breaking their own highest temperature records. The increase in temperature, as Brettschneider predicts, could go even higher in the near future.

Just last month, a report indicated that the coldest place on Earth is colder than previously thought and now, the temperature recorded in Death Valley clearly indicates a certain set of factors is pushing the temperatures prevailing on our planet towards extreme ends. This can be attributed to a range of factors such as natural variability and climate change, Marshall Shepherd, a climate scientist at the University of Georgia told Live Science.

"Extreme heat is one of the things that we can pin down to climate change with a high degree of certainty," Shepherd stated, adding that the factor is working collectively with natural variability. Comparing the situation to a baseball player’s performance boost due to steroids, the researcher said the valley’s ability to become hot naturally has been bolstered by the impact of climate change, leading to the results we’re seeing.

"It's clear to me that we cannot write off extreme heat events as natural chance anymore," the researcher concluded.