World temperature record set in California's Death Valley

(Reuters, 20 Aug 2020) If verified, the 130F reading on Sunday would be the hottest temperature officially recorded since July 1913.

One of the hottest air temperatures recorded anywhere on the planet in at least a century, and possibly ever, was reached on Sunday afternoon at Death Valley in California's Mojave Desert where it soared to 130 Fahrenheit (54.4 Celsius).

An automated observation system run by the U.S. National Weather Service in the valley's sparsely populated Furnace Creek reported the record at 3:41 p.m. at the crest of an extreme heat wave, a more frequent occurrence due to climate change.

It was a dry heat: Humidity fell to 7%. But it felt "insanely hot" all the same, according to meteorologist Daniel Berc at the weather service's Las Vegas bureau. A heat wave roasting much of the western United States would continue all 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 run at 130F."

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Reuters, 20 Aug 2020: World temperature record set in California's Death Valley