California had itself a weekend ofrolling blackout , addict thunderstorms , and afire - induce twister . But the land had to go and do one more wild affair : set the record for hottest temperature recorded anywhere on Earth .
Death Valley reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit ( 54.4 degrees Celsius ) on Sunday . The data still has to be support , but if it is , this preceding Sunday will have been our major planet ’s hottest dependably recorded day ever .
The heating plant wave gripping California is a roughshod one . A ridge of high press has created abnormally spicy conditions across nearly the intact state . That ’s unremarkably a recipe for rare temperatures in Death Valley , a interior parkland that also go on to be one of the hottest places on Earth . Earlier this summer during a similar apparatus , the mercury there topped out at 128 point Fahrenheit ( 53.3 degrees Anders Celsius ) in what was then thehottest temperature on Earthfor the yr . But because it ’s 2020 , things had to get spoiled .
Hikers in Death Valley. Which no thank you.Photo: Brian Melley (AP)
The 130 degrees Fahrenheit interpretation will be examined by a team of expert to determine its validity . That squad involves the National Climate Extremes Committee , which is part of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . The World Meteorological Organization will also examine it .
“ Our evaluations are very detailed and therefore somewhat sentence - consuming , ” Randall Cerveny , a climate expert at Arizona State University and WMO rapporteur of weather and climate extremes , said in an email . “ It may take upwards of six to nine month to finish . The key is that we do it correctly ; in the 13 years of operation , never has one of our prescribed World Meteorological Organization valuation been overturn , a testament to the eminent - quality and rigorous rating process treat by some of the top atmospherical scientists in the world . ”
What they ’ll be examining , though , is whether this is officially the hot August temperature ever recorded . That ’s because the official hottest temperature on Earth is a reading also from Death Valley from July 10 , 1913 , when the temperature wax to 134 degrees Fahrenheit ( 56.7 degrees Anders Celsius ) . If you would care to start a smacking competitiveness between meteorologist , bring up the 1913 temperature . The accuracy of the reading is ( ahem)hotly disputeddue to a number of factors , let in its inconsistency with other interpretation across the region that twenty-four hour period . The 134 - degree - Fahrenheit reading is accepted as official , though , by both WMO and NOAA .
Deke Arndt , the theater director of the Center for Climate Weather at NOAA ’s National Centers for Environmental Information , say that it ’s potential the National Climate Extremes Committee could re - examine the 134 arcdegree Fahrenheit phonograph record . As the former head of the citizens committee , Arndt said he “ was n’t keen to reopen it , ” but the new head “ may wish to revisit it , and I would of course support their findings . ”
For now , though , Sunday ’s temperature has a nip at the faithfully measured record as well as all - time planet high for August , but a few degrees brusk of the prescribed all - time high . Is this some existent grind shit ? Yes . Am I here for it ? Also yes .
Regardless , I guess we can all hold 130 degrees Fahrenheit is pretty abnormal , even for the hot stead on Earth ! It comes in what is shaping up to be one of the top two hottest eld on record where heating plant records have fallen fromSiberiatoIraqto enceinte swaths of the U.S. Heat is , of course , one of earmark of global thaw .
While the sparsely populated nature of Death Valley get it prosperous to wonder at the heat record from this weekend , more populated persona of California have also been dealing with unbearable heat . The state capital of Sacramento hit 114 stage Fahrenheit ( 45.6 degrees Anders Celsius ) on Sunday . In addition , the entire Bay Area was under a electric storm watch . While that may sound completely normal to anyone east of the Mississippi where summer storm are common , this is California ’s ironic season . summertime rain is rare , rent alone storm humid enough to produce lightning . But in summation to the ridgepole locking in the rut , winds have also blown tropical moisture courtesy of the remnants of Hurricane Elida that forge over the Pacific last hebdomad .
A admirer in Santa Cruz told me they saw lightning “ like we ’ve never seen around here ” on Saturday . Andstunning imagescaptured on Saturday show lightning over the ocean and a bizarre curlicue swarm , the the likes of of which precededlast week ’s Midwest derecho , zipping into Santa Cruz .
The lightning has also sparkle legion firing across the state , including the Loyalton Fire that transmit a towering firenado into the sky . Oh , and the state has been make out with rolling blackout to apportion with the monolithic tenor the heat has put on the power grid . The worst part of all this is knowing things will get much , much worse as the climate crisis intensifies . So , uh , we should likely do something about that .
Update , 8/17/20 , 5:50 p.m. : scuttlebutt from Randall Cerveny have been added to this position .
Californiadeath valley
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