Its hot, could be worse

Silicon Valley Mercury News/Associated Press, Chris Carlson, 6/29/13.  "What 128 degrees feels like:  A report from Death Valley."

Extreme heat?  You're not kidding!

"FURNACE CREEK, Calif. (AP) -- Associated Press photographer Chris Carlson is no stranger to heat. He grew up just outside Palm Springs, Calif.   .... I know what to expect in Death Valley: Unrelenting heat so bad it makes my eyes hurt, as if someone is blowing a hair dryer in my face. I don't leave CDs or electronics in the car because they could melt or warp. I always carry bottles of water.  

....  But I still make mistakes. I forgot my oven mitts, the desert driving trick I learned as a teenager after burning my hands too many times on the steering wheel. And my rental car is black, adding several degrees to the outside temperature of 127.  ----  The camera around my neck gets so hot it stops working. An error message flashes a warning at me."  Read article. 

Related article- Los Angeles Times/Louis Sahagun, 6/30/13.  "Yes, Death Valley was hot, but did it set a record?" The official stats won't be available until Monday, but one reading was 128 — which would tie the June record — and another was 129.9.  ....  Some meteorologists had expected the mercury to soar to about 130 degrees for the first time anywhere in the country in nearly a century. The highest temperature ever recorded on the planet was in Death Valley on July 10, 1913 — 134 degrees. The park's headquarters in Furnace Creek is 190 feet below sea level. Nearby Badwater, at 280 feet below sea level, is the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere. On Sunday, visitors cracked eggs there just to watch them fry in the heat. A few added strips of bacon."  Related tourism - Death Valley.com, and  Death Valley Chamber of Commerce. Note:  photograph from Edmunds.com.

Posted by Kathy Meeh