Death Valley, one of the most extreme places on the planet, is already seeing the impact of climate change, with summers even hotter than usual.
It was 10 p.m. and 116 degrees as a brutal wind whipped through the darkness.
“I never knew such temperatures before,” said Nicolas Combaret, 40, who was visiting Death Valley from France with his wife and 5-year-old son. It was one of several stops on their tour of the Southwest. Much of the reason for this is that Death Valley is a long, narrow basin that sinks 282 feet below sea level. The sun-bleached moonscape near the border of Nevada is hemmed in by jagged, rust-colored mountains, which trap hot air and circulate it like a convection oven.
“As the climate changes, as world temperatures get hotter, Death Valley will get hotter,” said Giovanna Ponce, a public information officer with the park. She noted that seven of Death Valley’s hottest summers on record occurred in the past 10 years. last August saw the rainiest day in Death Valley’s history, 1.7 inches, which triggered flash floods that scoured the landscape and damaged roads.
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