I have often wondered which would be the most horrible way to leave this old world (a) getting stranded in a raging blizzard in the Plains and freeze to death, or (b) have a break down on some remote desert back road and die of dehydration and heat exhaustion. I hope I never have to face either.
The desert is supposed to be hot in summer, in fact, extremely hot, but this is no ordinary heat that region is facing now. We start off this report with a high of 127 today in Death Valley. That is only 7 degrees short of the hottest official temperature ever recorded in the USA. That record was 134 in the 1930s. It is only 9 degrees short of the hottest ever recorded on earth, which was 136 in the Libyan Desert. The heat even extends into the Pacific Northwest. It was 104 in Boise today. Let’s take a look at some of the extremes state-by-state.
NEVADA
116 in Las Vegas (the low was 87 and the humidity was 2% this afternoon)
108 Reno (possibly a tie for their all-time high)
ARIZONA
115 Phoenix (low was 89)
109 Tucson
115 Yuma
121 Bullhead City
118 Bouse
116 Casa Grande
116 Gila Bend
116 Phantom Ranch (bottom of Grand Canyon)
87 North rim of Grand Canyon (quite a contrast)
CALIFORNIA
110 Fresno
107 Sacramento
127 Death Valley
117 Blythe
118 Desert Center
120 Needles
UTAH
101 Salt Lake City
115 St. George
In Washington State, it was 101 in Spokane and 103 in Yakima.
