June 30, 2013 Death Valley hits 128F!

Below is a pic by an observer at the Death Valley NP weather station in Furnace Creek, CA. It shows a temperature of 128F on an official/standard NWS air temperature thermometer, which is housed, I presume, inside the cotton-region shelter. This picture is from Saturday, June 29 (according to an article by Accuweather), when the official high temperature here was 127F. I am not sure why there is a discrepancy between the two figures/readings.here is the article:

(late edit — Saturday’s high temperature at Death Valley was revised upward from 127F to 128F on the Sunday morning RTP listing from NWS Las Vegas).The official max temp at Death Valley on June 30, Sunday, was 128F. This is just one degree lower than its all-time RELIABLE max temp of 129F. Unfortunately, the “record” readings from one week in July 1913, including 130F, 131F, and 134F (and a few other 128s and 129s), are not legitimate. For 100 years, the accepted all-time record high temperature for Death Valley, for California, for the U.S., (and now for the world!) is not legitimate.

Sunday, June 30, was likely among the hottest 4 or 5 days in the past 100 years in the Death Valley region, as nearly all stations were within a degree or two of their all-time record high temperatures. (Las Vegas hit a record 117F!) But, again, Death Valley was six degrees short of its record of 134F, set on July 10, 1913.

Isn’t is odd that 100 years have passed and Death Valley has yet to reach 130F again since July 10, 1913? Official temperatures have been observed at DV/Furnace Creek since 1911. The annual maximum temperatures for the past 102 years here range from 119 to 129F, except for the 134F in 1913!

Well, that week in 1913 must have been exceptionally HOT in the region, right?! NOPE! Max temps at the few surrounding stations were about 7 to 10 degrees above normal for July. The Death Valley/Greenland Ranch maximums that were “reported” were about 14 to 19 degrees above normal —— or about EIGHT degrees hotter than that which would have been expected, based only on surrounding station data (average max temp in July is about 115F).

Part of my Masters Thesis in the late 1980s (at CSU Northridge, under Dr. Arnold Court) looked at the early records from Death Valley/Greenland Ranch in depth. There are many, many problems and inconsistencies in the temperature and precipitation data from 1911 to 1930. I determined that the 134F record, and the other exceptionally hot maximum temperature reports here from July 6 to 12, 1913, are untrustworthy.

One of these days, the 134F record will be thrown out, and the all-time record high temperature for the U.S. will be 129F, which Death Valley has reached a few times now. I hope to find some time to post my thesis work online and/or prepare a write-up showing the lack of support for the 1913 data.

Apparently there is some sort of official celebration or ceremony planned in Furnace Creek on July 10, 2013, commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the 134F report. To me, it is laughable, because the record of 134F is so outrageous. I figure that many, or most, people won’t believe the online rantings here —- who is this guy that ridicules the hallowed Death Valley record of 134F anyway?!

But, mark my words —- just as the old world record of 136F in Libya was recently determined to be bogus —- soon the 100-year-old record of 134F at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley on July 10, 1913, will be discarded. You heard it here first.

You should have one last question —- “How do you explain the exceptionally hot and ‘untrustworthy’ max temp readings in 1913, Bill??”

We will never be able to prove for certain that the air temperature inside the Greenland Ranch/Furnace Creek/Death Valley weather station shelter DID NOT legitimately reach and exceed 130F in July, 1913. But I reckon that the observer was “fudging the numbers” upward for a week, nearly 100 years ago. I think that the observer at the time played “fast and loose” with reality, and with the scientific record.

I’ll let you know when I throw something together on Stormbruiser to help you understand why the official high temperature record for the United States for THE LAST ONE HUNDRED YEARS(!!!) is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT BOGUS! Well, maybe 99.9 percent. It would be great if I could post it before July 10.

By the way, here is Sunday’s NWS/Las Vegas statement on the weekend’s record-setting high temps in the Mojave Desert and Death Valley region:

000
SXUS75 KVEF 010109
RERVEF

RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
609 PM PDT SUN JUN 30 2013

…MORE RECORD HIGHS FALL ACROSS OUR AREA TODAY…

THE JACKPOT OF LAS VEGAS RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WAS REACHED AT
MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN LAS VEGAS TODAY WHEN THE
TEMPERATURE REACHED 117 DEGREES. THIS TIES THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH
FOR LAS VEGAS FOR ANY MONTH FIRST SET ON JULY 24, 1942 AND TIED ON
JULY 19, 2005. THIS ALSO SETS THE ALL-TIME JUNE RECORD HIGH FOR LAS
VEGAS. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 116 DEGREES ON JUNE 15, 1940.
OFFICIAL WEATHER RECORDS FOR LAS VEGAS DATE BACK TO 1937.

AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN SOUTHWEST LAS VEGAS ON
DEAN MARTIN DRIVE NEAR BLUE DIAMOND ROAD THE HIGH TEMPERATURE TODAY
REACHED 119 DEGREES. THIS BREAKS THE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME RECORD FOR
OUR OFFICE FOR ANY MONTH OF 118 DEGREES SET JUST YESTERDAY – JUNE
29TH. A WEATHER STATION AT OUR OFFICE WAS FIRST ESTABLISHED IN 1996.

AT THE MERCURY AIRPORT NEAR DESERT ROCK NEVADA THE HIGH TEMPERATURE
REACHED 113 DEGREES SO FAR TODAY. THIS SMASHES THE PREVIOUS ALL-TIME
JUNE RECORD HIGH OF 111 DEGREES SET ON JUNE 29TH AND 30TH OF 1994
AND TIED ON JUNE 29, 2013. RECORDS FOR DESERT ROCK DATE BACK TO 1978.

AT BISHOP CALIFORNIA THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT THE EASTERN SIERRA
REGIONAL AIRPORT REACHED 109 DEGREES TODAY. THIS BREAKS THE OLD
DAILY RECORD FOR TODAY OF 108 DEGREES SET IN 1972. THIS ALSO TIES
THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE OF 109
FIRST SET ON JUNE 22, 1954. THIS ALSO TIES FOR THE SECOND HIGHEST
TEMPERATURE EVER ON RECORD AT BISHOP WHICH WAS LAST SET ON JULY 22,
2003. THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH FOR BISHOP REMAINS 110 DEGREES SET ON
JULY 10, 2002. RECORDS FOR BISHOP DATE BACK TO 1943.

AT DEATH VALLEY CALIFORNIA AT THE OFFICIAL WEATHER STATION IN
FURNACE CREEK THE HIGH TEMPERATURE SO FAR FOR TODAY WAS 128 DEGREES.
THIS BREAKS THE OLD DAILY RECORD OF 127 DEGREES SET IN 1994. THIS
ALSO TIES THE ALL-TIME JUNE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR DEATH VALLEY
OF 128 DEGREES SET ON JUNE 29, 1994 AND TIED ON JUNE 29, 2013.
RECORDS FOR DEATH VALLEY DATE BACK TO 1911.

AT NEEDLES CALIFORNIA THE HIGH TEMPERATURE TODAY REACHED 122 DEGREES
WHICH BREAKS THE OLD DAILY RECORD OF 121 DEGREES IN 1994. THIS ALSO
MARKS THE FIRST TIME NEEDLES HAS EVER RECORDED 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF
120 DEGREES OR GREATER IN THE MONTH OF JUNE. THE PREVIOUS RECORD WAS
2 SUCH DAYS ON JUNE 29TH AND 30TH OF 1994. RECORDS FOR NEEDLES DATE
BACK TO 1888.

AT KINGMAN ARIZONA THE HIGH TEMPERATURE TODAY REACHED 110 DEGREES
WHICH BREAKS THE OLD DAILY RECORD OF 109 SET IN 1950. THIS ALSO
MARKS THE FIRST TIME KINGMAN HAS RECORDED 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF 110
DEGREES OR GREATER IN THE MONTH OF JUNE. RECORDS FOR KINGMAN DATE
BACK TO 1901.

AT BULLHEAD CITY ARIZONA THE HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 123 DEGREES TODAY
AT THE CO-OP WEATHER STATION TIES THE PREVIOUS DAILY RECORD SET IN
1994. RECORDS FOR BULLHEAD CITY DATE BACK TO 1977.

THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS PRELIMINARY AND IS SUBJECT TO A FINAL
REVIEW AND CERTIFICATION BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER.

$$

STACHELSKI