10 ms·
Death Valley hits 130 degrees, near world record
- mcraiha 5y ago130 degrees Fahrenheit = 54.4 degrees Celsius
- barcoder 5y agoI've experienced 50 degrees Celsius in the Sahara. Hard to imagine hotter.
- quickthrowman 5y agoI’ve experienced 100C in a sauna :) It’s a lot different though, since you can exit the sauna into air that is substantially colder, you can’t escape the desert heat.
- Retric 5y agoOnly in the way I “experienced” 300+C by jumping through a bonfire. You never reach a true equilibrium in a Sauna that hot, but you can reach an equilibrium in 50C when the humidity is low enough.
- quickthrowman 5y agoGood point, 5 minutes at 100C is nothing like spending all day at 50C.
- lostlogin 5y agoWe used to get stuff out an oven which cars were baked in after being painted. Lots of close on an run. In hindsight, very stupid.
- flycaliguy 5y agoReminds me of a great little story I just read about working in a brick yard in the 50s. https://brickcollecting.com/merwin.htm https://brickcollecting.com/merwin.htm Yeah, I found some cool bricks and wondered if brick collecting was a thing.
- lostlogin 5y agoIt is - a demolition yard near me had a particular pole that weren’t for sale. The yard owner kept the best for himself. Ones made by prisoners. One with a nice glaze etc.
- csomar 5y agoApples and Oranges. Saunas have much lower humidity, and also you are exposed for much shorter duration of time. 100C is the boiling point of water; so if you stay for an extended period, you'll probably die. Some people who live in 50C temperatures do not have access to AC or a reliable water source.
- invincing 5y agoSaunas (at least the way we enjoy them here in Finland) can be pretty humid, because we throw water on the stones of the stove. But throwing too much water can make it intolerable, and lethal if you don't follow your instinct to leave if it gets too hot. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-10904691 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-10904691 Normally in a sauna it's not constantly so humid that sweating wouldn't be able to keep your body temperature normal (as long as you stay hydrated). Throwing water on the stove raises the humidity just momentarily and makes you sweat at full capacity, but normally you would wait for some minutes before throwing more water. If air is humid enough, sweating can't cool the body anymore because sweat won't evaporate, so already 35C is lethal in 100% humidity. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-potentially-fatal-combinations-humidity-emerging.html https://phys.org/news/2020-05-potentially-fatal-combinations...
- gvd 5y agoAlso the feeling of radiation. I remember experiencing 123F in death valley and the feeling of my skin just feeling weird
- devoutsalsa 5y agoAre you a boiled chicken? Do saunas actually get that hot? googles I guess they can. Seems bonkers though.
- bin_bash 5y agoeven higher, I've been in Wi Spa in LA that gets up to 231f/110c
- throwawayboise 5y agoSauna at my gym ranges around 200 F +/- about 10 degrees, according to the thermometer on the wall, so getting close to 100 C. I sit in it about 20 minutes after a workout. Yes I am sweating buckets by the end. It feels good though.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- skrause 5y agoDry air is a bad thermal conductor, so the body can easily deal with the hot air for a while. It quickly gets uncomfortable when they pour water on hot stones in the sauna. Humidity really makes all the difference.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- lmilcin 5y agoAnd just how much sunlight was in your sauna?
- monster_group 5y ago100℃? You were in boiling water temperature? How's that possible? Or did you mean to say 100°F?
- smusamashah 5y agoI have experienced 50 in Multan, Pakistan many summers multiple times. It's a city though, not a desert. There are many other cities where temperatures go this high each summer.
- slumdev 5y agoI've experienced 50 degrees Celsius in Las Vegas. But then I stepped back into the air conditioning.
- gonzo 5y agoVegas has never been 50C. The record high for the city is 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47.22C) at McCarran International Airport, most recent previous to today was in June 2017, according to the National Weather Service. The city has recorded that high temperature five times, including today.
- HappyDreamer 5y agoThat's in the shadows, right?
- xenocratus 5y agoTechnically speaking there is no "in the sun" temperature because it would depend on how much thermal energy the thermometer material absorbs from light.
- lmilcin 5y agoExactly. Mass of air has temperature and an object like thermometer can come into equilibrium with air temperature. On the other hand an object in sunlight will have temperature that has very complex relationship with a lot of parameters including shape of the object or windspeed. Further, the object will not come into equilibrium and will show a gradient of temperature meaning the readout will depend on where you measure.
- HappyDreamer 5y ago> including shape of the object or windspeed I suppose the air (the wind) tends to be colder than objects in the sun, since most sunshine pass straight through the air. A way to investigate this, is to step barefoot on flat black stones, in the summer sunshine
- bertil 5y agoThere are two equilibrium temperatures, i.e. temperatures that likely don’t depend much on the device that you are using: * under a tent, i.e. in the shadow and sheltered from direct wind: commonly used and correspond to the temperature of the air; * wet bulb: more recently under attention, correspond to the effect of cooling by evaporation similar to what a healthy human body does. Wet-bulb often gives much lower number in a dry heat and is more significant for human survival. I’ve read that 32ºC or 88ºF are likely were prolonged exposure lead to adverse health but don’t quote me on that.
- 5y ago
- toomanyrichies 5y agoThere is some dispute about whether other, supposedly higher recorded temperatures were actually valid readings. Original long-form blog post here[1], and a summary taken from here[2] reads as follows: "Burt wrote a detailed 2016 blog post at Weather Underground challenging the 1913 record at Death Valley, explaining that official readings of 134, 130, and 131 degrees Fahrenheit taken on July 10, 12, and 13, 1913 were likely the result of an inexperienced observer. In order for the 1913 Death Valley record to be decertified, though, an official World Meteorological Organization investigation committee would have to be assembled to look into the matter, a years-long process for which there is currently no motivation. The only other temperature of at least 130 degrees Fahrenheit officially recognized by the World Meteorological Organization is a 131-degree reading at Kebili, Tunisia, set July 7, 1931, which is considered to be Africa’s hottest temperature. Burt disputed this record: “I mentioned to the WMO about the Kebili temperature of 131 degrees Fahrenheit back in 2012, when asked what I thought the next hottest temperature in Africa (after Al Azzia) might be, since that was the only temperature over 130 degrees Fahrenheit that had an actual date attached to it. However, the Kebili ‘record’ is even more bogus than even the Al Azzia record, and I said so. Kebili is a relatively cool spot in Tunisia (an oasis) and never since the 1930s ever again recorded a maximum temperature above 118 degrees Fahrenheit. The WMO wanted something for their ‘Africa’ section at that time, and somehow the 131 degrees Fahrenheit made it into the database with no consideration of its validity whatsoever. Nowhere in Africa has any reliably observed temperature been measured above 126 degrees Fahrenheit.”" 1. https://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/an-investigation-of-death-valleys-134f-world-temperature-record.html https://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/an-invest... 2. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/08/death-valley-california-may-have-recorded-hottest-temp-in-world-history/ https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/08/death-valley-cali...
- user3939382 5y agoGrowing up in Palm Springs I remember it breaking 120 all the time. For me these records seem like a particularly hot day in Palm Springs.
- skeeter2020 5y agoIt's only been 123 F in Palm Springs 3 times and 122 F ~ 1/2 a dozen, so I doubt you remember this happening "all the time". It's never been any where close to 130F there, but nice flex anyway.
- neolog 5y agoWhere can I see those numbers?
- EliRivers 5y agohttps://www.cactushugs.com/hottest-days-palm-springs-history/ https://www.cactushugs.com/hottest-days-palm-springs-history...
- Rebelgecko 5y agoLooks like they're a few years out of date. It hit 123 in PS a few weeks ago
- user3939382 5y agoWeird that as the temperature lowered your count was doubling but then you strategically omitted 120, 121? It’s not a “flex” that it was hot (??) I love these programmer types on HN that are always looking for some way to tell someone they’re wrong. I know, let’s spend a few hours to plot every day it was 120, 121, 122, 123 on a chart, debate the role of “feels like” temperatures, debate what all the time means, and then we can have an Internet panel decide if 130 really does seem like a particularly hot day for someone from Palm Springs. And by the way, since you’re so smart, how is 123 “no where close” to 130?
- tppiotrowski 5y agoFurnace Creek in Death Valley is actually decently shaded by some of the most prominent mountains in North America. I wonder if the air temperature would be higher if the sun hit the area earlier. Sunrise is 5:39am, but it's actually in mountain shade until 6:14am. Sunset is 8:07pm, but it's actually already in mountain shade at 7:43pm. The mountains cut out a good hour of direct sunlight. Here's an interactive map if you're interested: https://shademap.app/#36.4344,-116.85894,12z,1625922915384t https://shademap.app/#36.4344,-116.85894,12z,1625922915384t
- sandworm101 5y agoShade, even sunlight, isn't what makes death valley so hot. It is the valley part. Adiabatic cooling/heating as the air moves up and down the mountains is what makes the valley floor so hot. Take away those mountains and you loose that heat engine. https://www.geographyrealm.com/geography-facts-about-death-valley/ https://www.geographyrealm.com/geography-facts-about-death-v... "The confluence of several topographical and geographic factors have resulted in some of Earth’s highest air temperatures. Solar heating of the desert floor, the movement of warm air from adjacent areas (known as advection), adiabatic heating as air descends the ranges west of Death Valley, and the trapping of air in the valley all contribute to scorching temperatures. "
- tppiotrowski 5y agoMakes sense. I checked out Turbat, Pakistan and Kebili, Tunisia (noted for record temps) and at first glance their topography is less of a valley so some other mechanisms must be dominant there.
- brudgers 5y agoI advise discounting dependence on natural shade at Furnace Creek. Death Valley isn’t called “Death Valley” because of tourism board branding. There’s a reason park brochures don’t show overnight trails. The reason is reality thumps theory and the reality is harsh. Imagining it as someplace like Disneyland is a bad idea.
- reaperducer 5y ago
- contemporary343 5y agoIf Death Valley hits 131F today, that will be the highest reliably recorded air temperature on earth. In fact up to 134F is within the range of possibilities today and tomorrow, which would hit and exceed the less reliably recorded values from 1913 and the 1920s in Tunisia. By the 2050s.. who knows, maybe 140F will be within reach.
- bla3 5y agoIt's amazing what we can achieve if we set our minds to it!
- eric__cartman 5y agohumanity moment
- lolive 5y agoTeam work makes the dream work.
- drdeadringer 5y agoI imagine my manger saying this. I'm already not wanting to work there any more.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- irrational 5y agoReach for the stars! The temperature at the surface of the Sun is about 10,000 Fahrenheit (5,600 Celsius).
- pkulak 5y agoIt's like the most depressing 4-minute mile.
- perihelions 5y ago
- tekstar 5y agoI visited Death Valley in the summer year ago. I remember the birds would line up in the narrow shadows cast by the telephone poles to stay out of the sun.
- coldcode 5y agoThe hottest I ever felt was 114° in the DFW area in Texas. I cannot even fathom another 16 degrees. Even with low humidity, 130° is a killer. Even worse though are places in the world not quite as hot, but with high humidity, where the body cannot cope with cooling you down. If heat continues to go up, I wonder how many places on earth will become uninhabitable, and where will the people there then go? Maybe the future of humanity is underground, it does not take very far before the temperature is very pleasant. I recall walking down the path in Carlsbad Caverns when it was 100° outside, and the cave was at a constant 53° or so.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago> The hottest I ever felt was 114° in the DFW area in Texas. I cannot even fathom another 16 degrees. Even with low humidity, 130° is a killer. Humidity makes a bigger difference than you might think. Death Valley at 130F and 6% humidity (the current Death Valley humidity) has a heat index similar to somewhere at 100F and 50% humidity (common humidity for DFW, Texas). Heat index isn't perfect, but 114F with DFW humidity might have felt significantly worse than 130F with Death Valley humidity.
- ocdtrekkie 5y agoI mean, we already air condition a lot. My guess is if an area is uninhabitable for a small portion of the year, we'll build more structures designed to convey people between buildings and their vehicles without people actually going outdoors, such that you just don't go outside when it's that hot. As a Chicagoan, I'd like to see more built that way just for the winter... That being said, underground is pretty efficient energy-wise, it'll just depend on whether or not that exceeds the costs of building underground, which is generally significant.
- irrational 5y agoWhen I lived in south Florida we would pretty much went from our air conditioned houses to our air conditioned cars to our air conditioned schools/stores/work. I’d usually wait until after midnight to go for a run since it was “cooler”.
- thekingofravens 5y agoDoesn't 130 degree water like burn skin or something? Would it be dangerous just to be outside in that condition?
- mediaman 5y agoIt looks like it'll beat that today. Yesterday, it reached 130 at 23:54 GMT. But it's trending hotter today: the current hour peak temperature is 127.4, and the same hour peak temperature yesterday was only 124.4. There's about two or so more hours of heating left in the day, which yesterday added 5.6 degrees in heat vs the 2100 hour peak. If that happens - the same heating would cause it to reach 133F - it'll shatter the (reliable) world records.
- pmkiwi 5y agoNice from them to provide the rain precipitation! Have been to the Death Valley twice in November and January. Truly amazing place!
- tonymet 5y agoYeah but it’s a dry heat