DEATH VALLEY, Calif. (KTNV) — Death Valley, California, hit 128° on Thursday, shattering the previous daily record of 122° set in 1917 and coming just a few degrees shy of the global record set in 1913 for the hottest recorded temperature on Earth.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the hottest official temperature ever recorded on Earth was also at Death Valley in 1913 when Greenland Ranch hit 134°.
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El Azizia, Libya, held the title until 2012 when the World Meteorological Organisation disqualified the reading.
According to National Weather Service records, Death Valley only hit 134 once on July 10, 1913. A reading of 131° was recorded on July 13 and 130° was recorded on July 12 of the same year.
The NWS says Death Valley has recorded a reading of 129° seven times between the years 1913 and 2007.
Death Valley National Park says numerous heat records were broken in the summer of 2020.
Last year the park saw 35 days over 120°, eight days over 125° and six nights over 100°.
2020 even produced a reading of 130° at the park, recorded on Aug. 16, but that has not been verified yet. The park says a final verification process will be overseen by a climate extremes committee. If verified, it would be the hottest temperature recorded in the park since 1913 and possibly the hottest temperature in the world since 1931.
Death Valley and Las Vegas were among several sites that broke or tied record high temperatures today. #cawx #nvwx #azwx pic.twitter.com/BFDbSLUvZe
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) June 18, 2021
Meanwhile, the Las Vegas office of the NWS shared out a list of record-breaking temperatures Thursday in the region.
On the list is Las Vegas, which hit 114° breaking the previous daily record of 113° set in 1940.
RELATED: Record broken: Las Vegas reaches 114° Thursday, breaking another daily record
Needles, Barstow and Bishop all joined Death Valley in breaking or matching daily records in California. Needles hit 120°, tying its 1917 record. Barstow hit 117°, breaking a record of 110° set in 2017. And Bishop broke a 2017 record of 104° by hitting 107°.
Lastly, Kingman, Arizona, hit 109° to break the 108° record set in 1917.
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