Tourists flock to Death Valley despite deadly US heatwave

Death Valley, California – Hundreds of Europeans traveling through the American West and adventurers from across the U.S. are still drawn to Death Valley National Park, even though the desolate region known as one of the hottest places on Earth is being punished by a dangerous wave of heat guilty of the death of a motorcyclist on the weekend.

French, Spanish, English and Swiss tourists left their rental cars and air-conditioned motorhomes on Monday to take photos of the arid landscape so different from the snow-capped mountains and green hills they know back home. American adventurers welcomed the news, even as park officials in California warned visitors to stay safe.

“I was excited because it was going to be so hot,” said Drew Belt, a resident of Tupelo, Mississippi, who wanted to stop at Death Valley, as the lowest-elevation place in the U.S., on his way to climb Mount Whitney in California. , the highest peak in the lower 48 states. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s like walking on Mars.”

Park Superintendent Mike Reynolds warned visitors in a statement that “high heat like this can pose real threats to your health.”

The scorching heat wave hitting much of the United States has also led to daily records high temperatures in Oregon, where it is suspected of causing six deaths, the state medical examiner’s office said Tuesday. More than 161 million people across the US were under heat warning, especially in the western states.

Dozens of locations in the West and Pacific Northwest tied or broke previous heat records over the weekend and are expected to continue doing so through the week.

The first US heat wave occurred when the global temperature in June reached a record hot for the 13th consecutive month and marked the 12th consecutive month that the world was 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than in pre-industrial times, European climate service Copernicus said. Most of this heat, trapped by human-caused climate change, comes from long-term warming resulting from greenhouse gases emitted by burning coal, oil and natural gas, scientists say.

An excessive heat warning was in effect across much of Washington and Oregon on Tuesday, with the potential for temperatures to reach as high as 110 F (43.3 C) in areas, posing a greater risk of heat-related illnesses, said the National Weather Service.

Temperatures in parts of Idaho, including Boise, were expected to reach more than 100 F (37.7 C) on Tuesday.

A serious 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave killed about 600 people in Oregon, Washington and western Canada. Air conditioning is not common in much of the Pacific Northwest, a region unaccustomed to such heat.

In the scorching desert of eastern California, a maximum temperature of 128 F (53.3 C) was recorded over the weekend in Death Valley National Park, where a visitor, who was not identified, died on Saturday due to exposure to the heat. Another person was hospitalized.

They were among six motorcyclists who rode through the Badwater Basin area in scorching weather, the park said in a statement. The other four were treated at the scene. Emergency medical helicopters were unable to respond because the aircraft generally cannot fly safely above 120 F (48.8 C), officials said.

Death Valley is considered one of the most extreme environments in the world. The hottest temperature ever officially recorded on Earth was 134 F (56.67 C) in July 1913 in Death Valley, although some experts dispute this measurement and say the actual record was 130 F (54.4 C). , registered there in July 2021.

“It’s impressive,” Thomas Mrzliek of Basel, Switzerland, said of the triple-digit heat. “It’s like a wave that hits you when you get out of the car, but it’s very dry heat. So it’s not like Europe.”

Across the Nevada desert, Las Vegas had already reached 103 F (39.4 C) by 9:30 a.m. Tuesday and would likely approach 120 F (48.8 C) again later in the day.

“The intense heat wave will continue to set records through the end of the week before tapering off as increased monsoon moisture returns to the area,” said the National Weather Service in Las Vegas.

In Arizona, average temperatures for the first eight days of July were the hottest on record in Phoenix and Yuma, the National Weather Service in Phoenix said. He said both cities will remain about 10 degrees above normal for the next few days, with highs mostly between 112 F (44.4 C) and 120 F (48.8 C).

Extreme heat and a prolonged drought in the West have also dried out vegetation that can fuel wildfires.

In California, firefighters were on the front lines of at least 18 wildfires on Tuesday, including a 41-square-mile (106-square-kilometer) blaze in the mountains of Santa Barbara County. The lake fire was only 12% contained, and forecasters warned of a “volatile combination” of high heat, low humidity and northwest winds developing later in the day.

“The main priority is to prevent the fire from moving into southern communities,” the fire situation report states.

A small but smoldering blaze, dubbed the Royal Fire, has burned more than 150 acres (60 hectares) of forest west of Lake Tahoe and rained ash on the resort town of Truckee, California. There was no containment on Monday night.

Rare heat warnings have been extended even to higher elevations, including around the generally temperate Tahoe area, with the weather service in Reno, Nevada, warning of “major impacts of heat risk, even in the mountains.” At Sand Harbor State Park, the record of 92 F (33.3 C) set on Sunday broke the old record of 88 F (31.1 C) set in 2014. For the third day in a row, the city of South Lake Tahoe, California , reached a high of 91 F (32.7 C), beating the previous record of 89 F (31.6 C) set in 2017.

And for the first time in records dating back to 1888, Reno reached 105 F (40.5 C) for the third day in a row. Shortly thereafter, on Monday, the city set a record of 106 F (41.1 C), surpassing the previous mark of 104 F (40 C) set in 2017.

“It’s definitely warmer than we’re used to,” said Nevada State Parks spokesman Tyler Kerver.

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Stern reported from Reno, Nevada. AP journalists Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon; Anita Snow in Phoenix; Christopher Weber and John Antczak in Los Angeles; Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; and Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.