It was 126 degrees at the Furnace Creek weather station in Death Valley, California, on Monday. This is a new record high for Death Valley for the month of June. I had the meteorological pleasure of visiting Death Valley in July a few years ago. At one point, the car thermometer registered 121 degrees which was later corroborated correctly with the station at Furnace Creek. Death Valley is a rift valley. Mountains on either side are slowly moving apart creating a crack in the ground. Much of the valley bottom is below sea level. The lowest point, at 282 feet below sea level, is the low point of land in North America. The low elevation, surrounded by mountains, creates one of the hottest, driest places on Earth.
