June 29, 2013 - DEATH Valley

[BigV]

A few years ago we hiked to Dusty Lake. It was hot (not furnace creek hot, but eastern washington hot, hot enough) and on the trip through the desert on the way to the lake, the heat melted the adhesive on my friend's boot between the upper and the sole. He limped into camp with the floppy sole duct taped to his boot. I've checked, lots of pics, none of the boot. Damn hot though.

[jimhelm]

hottest temperature was recorded at Furnace Creek

[CaliforniaMama]

Originally Posted by SPUCK

Once the air gets so hot in one little area that air becomes lighter than the surrounding air. Hence it will rise. Cooler surrounding air is going to come in to replace that air. So that limits the maximum.

Furnace Creek is kinda special. The actual super hot spot there is associated with the local terrain. <snip> Then because the area is so large 1) there isn't much differential so not a lot of air density difference between the hot stuff and the neighboring hot stuff. Not much air rises. Then 2) what does rise is replaced by super heated neighboring air from the identical acre next door. if you see what I mean.

One summer I was helping out at an orphanage in Baja California (Mexico) that was actually a quasi-ranch. The girls learned how to cook and sew and the boys learned how to take care of livestock.

It was in the middle of nowhere and all you could see for miles around was slightly rolling hills of brown earth.

It was so hot and had that furnace feel. No a/c or any way to get relief from the heat. The thermometer went up to 130 degrees and it was red all the way up, so no telling how hot it really was.

I was suffering from heat exhaustion without knowing it and all I did was lay in our one bed trailer (silver bullet kind for the three of us) with a cold wash cloth on my head and I know the trailer was even hotter than it was outside. No one even realized I was sick.

Sometimes I have to shake my head with wonder at how I have survived so far. Sheer dumb luck!

Unlike all the chickens that huddled together to protect themselves from the heat. They didn't last too long.

[SPUCK]

You probably should've been laying under that trailer. Course.. that's likely where every rattlesnake in a 200 yard radius were hiding from the sun. But if you laid still they'd probably share it with you.

[glatt]

Hot enough to fry an egg

Death Valley National Park has asked tourists not to test out the reputation of the world’s hottest spot by frying eggs on the ground, citing a growing litter problem at the popular US landmark.

“An employee’s posting of frying an egg in a pan in Death Valley was intended to demonstrate how hot it can get here, with the recommendation that if you do this, use a pan or tin foil and properly dispose of the contents,” the park said on its Facebook page last week.

“However, the Death Valley NP maintenance crew has been busy cleaning up eggs cracked directly on the sidewalk, including egg cartons and shells strewn across the parking lot.

“This is your national park, please put trash in the garbage or recycle bins provided and don’t crack eggs on the sidewalks,” it said.

[SPUCK]

Sidewalks don't work.. They're white!

[Griff]

That's racist!

[SPUCK]