Tourists flock to Death Valley to experience possible world-record heat of 55C degrees

Tourists, perhaps foolishly, are flocking to one part of the world to experience a potentially record breaking 55 degree day.

It’s the ultimate tourist hotspot.

Some people seek refuge from the heat, while others want to steam in it — including tourists flocking to Death Valley National Park for an expected mind-melting world heat record that could be set this weekend.

The park straddling California and Nevada is well known for its torrid temps, but sweat aficionados want to experience what’s in store at Furnace Creek, where the visitor centre is located, Forbes reported.

The heat is expected to hit a high of 55C on Sunday, ​setting a world record for the hottest temperature ever reliably recorded, the National Weather Service told the news outlet.

Tourists are flocking to Death Valley National Park — the ​l​​owest, hottest and driest place on Earth — to experience what is expected to be a world record of 55 degrees on Sunday. Picture: AFP

​Earlier this week, German tourist Daniel Jusehus snapped a photo of the famed thermometer at the visitor centre after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat.

​“I was really noticing, you know, I didn’t feel so hot, but my body was working really hard to cool myself,” said the avid runner whose photo showed the thermometer reading 48C degrees – well below the expected record.

‘Heat dome’

An already dangerous weeks-long heatwave, labelled a “heat dome”, is expected to only worsen in coming days as it intensifies and reaches peak strength over parts of the Western United States.

The so-called “heat dome” is expected to be so intense the National Weather Service in Phoenix has called it “one of the strongest high-pressure systems this region has ever seen.”

It predicts more than 100 heat records could fall over the weekend as it intensifies, piling onto the more than 1000 US high-temperature records broken in the last month.

Heat alerts have been expanded to and issued in places like California, which is amid its first extreme heatwave of the year.

Texas, Florida and Arizona, have already sweltered through dangerously hot temperatures in what is likely to be a record-breaking streak of consecutive 43C-plus days.

Visitors are advised not to venture outside after 10am. Picture: AFP

Even low temperatures in affected areas have been or are expected to set records.

Forecasters expect the heat to be so intense it’s suggested residents of Las Vegas avoid the outdoors between 9am and 6pm, with the city forecast to near, or exceed, its record of 47.2C degrees on Sunday (local time).

Death Valley, the hottest place on earth, could reach highs of 54C or higher on Sunday, according to CNN – nearing its and the world’s 56.6C record.

“Heat domes” are generally a term used for heatwave fuelled by sprawling zones of high pressure and occur when a persistent region of high-pressure traps hot ocean air over an area.

As is currently the case, in the US they can span multiple states.

Valley of records

​The hottest temperature recorded at Death Valley, which sits nearly 91m below sea level in the Mojave Desert, was 56.6C degrees in July 1913, according to the park service.

But ​​scientists have come to doubt the accuracy of that reading, one of many records from the early 1900s that have come under intense scrutiny by the World Meteorological Organisation, according to Forbes.

A person lays on the floor while seeking shelter from the heat on July 14 in Phoenix, Arizona. Picture: Brandon Bell

In 2013, the group decertified what had been the world’s all-time hottest temperature — 58C — set in Al Azizia, Libya, 90 years earlier after an evaluation found the measurement faulty, the outlet reported.

Christopher Burt, who worked on the WMO desertification team, called the 1913 Death Valley record “100% bogus,” saying an inexperienced temperature observer probably was at fault.

‘Don’t go out’

At Death Valley National Park, signs warn hikers not to venture out after 10am, and while rangers make patrols, there’s no guarantee lost tourists will be reached in time.

Physical activity can make the heat even more unbearable at the park, where sunbaked rocks, sand and soil continue to radiate after sunset.

​“It does feel like the sun has gone through your skin and is getting into your bones,” Park Ranger Nichole Andler said.

Boxed values show forecast record-breaking highs in the western US. Picture: WeatherBell

Alessia Dempster, who was visiting from Edinburgh, Scotland, even lamented to the New York Post the effects of a breeze.

“It’s very hot. I mean, especially when there’s a breeze, you would think that maybe that would give you some slight relief from the heat, but it just really does feel like an air blow dryer just going back in your face,” she said.

​Josh Miller, a tourist from Indianapolis who has visited 20 national parks so far, marvelled at the unique experience in Death Valley.

​“It’s hot, but the scenery is awesome,” he said.

– with the New York Post