California’s Death Valley could reach 54.4 degrees, breaking the world heat record

DEATH VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 7: A man drinks water on a hot day at Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley as an extreme heat wave broke out in California, USA on June 7, 2024. Death Valley in California is considered one of the hottest places on Earth. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)

(NewsNation) – Meteorologists predict that Death Valley National Park in California could soon break the record for the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.

Although summer doesn’t begin for another two weeks, temperatures rose above 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) from southeastern California to Arizona on Thursday, marking the region’s first heat wave of the year.

On Wednesday, the National Weather Service’s Las Vegas office reported that temperatures in Death Valley were expected to reach 49 degrees.

Chris Outler, a meteorologist with the Las Vegas office, told USA Today there is a 20 percent chance the park could reach 54.4 degrees on Monday and Tuesday.

The all-time high in Death Valley and the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134 degrees on July 10, 1913. The current highest reliably recorded temperature is 130 degrees, according to Scientific American, and was recorded in Death Valley in August 2020 and July 2021.