Visitors descend on Death Valley just to experience its record-breaking temperatures

Tourists are flocking to Death Valley National Park in California to experience its record-breaking temperatures.

Death Valley is the hottest, driest and lowest place in the U.S. and recorded 130 degrees Fahrenheit on Aug. 16 — the hottest temperature in the park since 1913 and potentially the hottest on Earth since 1931, McClatchy News previously reported.

This past summer was the fourth hottest on record, the park wrote in a news release. The hottest was 2018, followed by 2017 and 2016. There were 35 days in which the temperature was over 120 degrees this year.

“Heat tourism brings visitors to the park to experience these extreme conditions,” the park wrote. “With this there were multiple search and rescues, and tragically also visitor fatalities where heat was a likely factor. Limiting time outside of air conditioning to just a few minutes at a time can help lead to a safer summer visit.”

Dan Markham, 40, of Utah told the Los Angeles Times that tourists from California, Washington, and Nevada have visited the park to try to get a picture with the thermometer recording the high temperatures.

“It would be stuck at 129 and then all of a sudden it would go up to 130 and everyone would run out of their cars to take a picture,” Markham told the publication.

Markham posted pictures on Twitter of his excursion, captioning a photo of his car: “Real question is, will my Tesla batteries melt or explode?”

He posted another picture of himself standing next to Death Valley’s thermometer reading 131 degrees.

“European travelers in particular love it here during our extreme summer months,” said Phil Dickinson, director of sales and marketing for the Furnace Creek Resort. “I think it is combination of the beauty of our wide open spaces, international travelers’ love of everything about the American West and, of course, our extreme heat.”

The park has a “heat-safety work policy” that mandates “cool-down and hydration periods” following extreme heat, according to the news release.

A hiker was found dead this month after the park recorded 123 degrees, The Mercury News reported. The park said “extreme heat appeared to be a factor” in the hiker’s death.

This story was originally published September 28, 2020 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Visitors descend on Death Valley just to experience its record-breaking temperatures."