Death Valley: The Hottest Place On Earth
Photographersnature/Wikimedia CommonsThe Badwater Salt Flats in Death Valley, the hottest place on Earth.
Of all the locations around the world that have registered history’s highest temperatures, none come close to Death Valley — the hottest place on Earth.
Located in California, near the Nevada border, Death Valley is a depression that stretches across 140 miles. Summer temperatures in Death Valley regularly hover above 120 degrees, and cool only to 90 degrees at night.
On July 10, 1913, temperatures there soared to 134.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which set the mark for the hottest temperature ever recorded.
Surprisingly, however, Death Valley doesn’t get its name from the heat.
National Park ServiceA thermometer in Death Valley showing the blazing temperatures.
As the story goes, a group of pioneers got trapped in Death Valley in the winter of 1849 as they tried to make their way to California, and the goldfields that awaited. The terrain, filled with salt flats and surrounded by mountains, was inhospitable, and the party suffered from dehydration.
When they finally escaped over the Panamint Mountains, one member of the party purportedly turned back and said, “Goodbye, Death Valley.”
The name stuck, and Death Valley remains a dangerous place to this day.
At the same time, the hottest place on Earth is astonishing for reasons other than registering some of the highest temperatures ever recorded. For one, it’s home to more than 1,000 plant species, hundreds of different animals, and mysterious “sailing stones” that seem to move across the desert floor all on their own.
