There’s lots of hullabaloo over the supposedly tied all time temperature record of 117°F in Las Vegas on June 29th, and the potential for a new all-time temperature record in Death Valley, which would negate the all time world record of 134F set on July 10th, 1913, since the previous world record in Libya of 136.4°F (58°C) was recently said to be unreliable. More on Death Valley in the next post, but for now let’s look at Las Vegas.
I don’t know where NBC news got 117°F where they say:
The high temperature officially hit 117 degrees at Las Vegas-McCarran International Airport — equaling the airport’s record
Even Drudge reported this.
Did NBC make this up? It wouldn’t be the first time they made up a news report to make it more spectacular. The official report from NWS Las Vegas for June 29th says 115°F:
CLIMATE REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
212 AM PDT SUN JUN 30 2013
...................................
...THE LAS VEGAS NV CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR JUNE 29 2013...
CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1981 TO 2010
CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1937 TO 2013
WEATHER ITEM OBSERVED TIME RECORD YEAR NORMAL DEPARTURE LAST
VALUE (LST) VALUE VALUE FROM YEAR
NORMAL
..................................................................
TEMPERATURE (F)
YESTERDAY
MAXIMUM 115R 452 PM 115 1994 103 12 105
MINIMUM 89 529 AM 60 1941 79 10 82
AVERAGE 102 90 12 94
The 117°F is not mentioned in the Record Event Report either: 115°F is.
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
150 AM PDT SAT JUN 29 2013
...SUMMARY OF RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES BROKEN ON 28 JUNE 2013...
IN LAS VEGAS THE HIGH TEMPERATURE AT THE OFFICIAL CLIMATE STATION AT
MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT REACHED 115 DEGREES. THIS TIED THE
DAILY RECORD FOR JUNE 28TH SET IN 1994. THIS MARKS THE FIRST TIME
LAS VEGAS HAS REACHED 115 AT MCCARRAN SINCE JULY 6, 2007 AND IN THE
MONTH OF JUNE SINCE JUNE 30, 1994.IN LAS VEGAS AT NORTH LAS VEGAS AIRPORT THE HIGH TEMPERATURE REACHED
113 DEGREES. THIS BREAKS THE OLD DAILY RECORD OF 108 DEGREES SET ON
JUNE 28TH 2003. THIS MARKS THE FIRST TIME NORTH LAS VEGAS AIRPORT
HAS REACHED 113 SINCE JULY 7, 2007.
So, that 115°F is fairly unremarkable as temperatures go, having been reached twice before. According to the NWS Las Vegas, summary the all time high of 117°F has been reached twice before:
Highest Maximum Temperatures Recorded in Las Vegas – 117 degrees
July 19, 2005
July 24, 1942
Source: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/vef/climate/LasVegasClimateBook/Highest%20and%20Lowest%20Maximum%20Temperatures%20Ever%20Recorded.pdf
Interesting to note that NWS Las Vegas has followed the lead of the Surface Stations project, and on their main web page today, provided photos of each weather station…well almost, they don’t have photos of the Ellis AFB weather station, just the tarmac. 5 out of six isn’t bad though, I’ll give them props for effort.
Their caption reads:
Although there are 6 official weather stations in the Las Vegas Valley, our long-term climate station is at McCarran Airport. Most weather stations are located at airports since the aviation community relies heavily on weather data for flights.
UPDATE: The new record report (preliminary, pending certification) for June 30th, today does show that the temperature reached 117F:
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS, NV
450 PM PDT SUN JUN 30 2013
...LAS VEGAS TIES THE JACKPOT OF ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES...
...ALL-TIME JUNE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT LAS VEGAS...
THE HIGH TEMPERATURE SO FAR TODAY AT MCCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
IN LAS VEGAS HAS REACHED 117 DEGREES. THIS TIES THE ALL-TIME RECORD
HIGH FOR LAS VEGAS FOR ANY MONTH FIRST SET ON JULY 24, 1942 AND TIED
ON JULY 19, 2005.
THIS ALSO SETS THE ALL-TIME JUNE RECORD HIGH FOR LAS VEGAS. THE
PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 116 DEGREES ON JUNE 15, 1940.
THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS PRELIMINARY AND IS SUBJECT TO A FINAL
REVIEW AND CERTIFICATION BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER.
Lady life Grows:
The average rainfall in Las Vegas increased from the 50s to the late 90s and if it has fallen recently it was just returning to the Arid conditions that are normal for the desert. However there is no one location with a long enough record in Southern Nevada to make any accurate claim. The head of the water board was blowing smoke as usual.
I’m surprised the temperature at the airport didn’t reach 120 given all the concrete, bitumen, jet exhausts, buildings etc.
Gbees:
Where the equipment is currently located is away from all the buildings, actually I am surprised it is there as the claimed site is not near any buildings. It is off the East West runway, about at the western end. The gray surface is likely gravel,but that is normal ground cover around the airport. No Jet exhausts at that location either. If the wind is blowing from the south there would be heat from the major road about 200 ft south and the desert beyond. There were many a day I thought it was over 120 when I was working near a road in that city, but Laughlin was even worse during the day, in the Summer. About 90 miles south along the Colorado River.
Nit picking time. I don’t think there is an Ellis AFB in LV. You mean Nellis AFB?
Yes Elmer he means Nellis AFB! The picture shows the runway with the Thunderbirds on it at Nellis.
Stephen Rasey says:
June 30, 2013 at 4:23 pm
@DesertYote 2:52 pm re: Rasey 1:56 pm
To be fair, one has to realize that the local temps can vary a great deal in an area like south eastern Nevada.
Yes, of course. I just thought it worthwhile to bring up the US Climate Reference Network (USCRN) into the discussion and see if any of them are showing record temps in their short existence.
###
Oh, ya, that makes sense.
Great 🙁
Now I most resist the urge to plunge down yet another rabbit hole; looking at all the data from all the stations around Las Vegas.
… anyone figure in the ‘high’ that has encompassed the SW the last few days and probable ‘descending air’ near the middle of that high helping raise those temps a bit? Mosher?
.
Desertyote:
Steven Rasey:
None of them have enough history in one location to be of any value! No need to waste your time. If the CRN station is at Mercury, AKA Nevada Test Site, that is 90 miles north and a completely different climate zone. Mercury might have some history going back to the 50s.
Chad Wozniak says:
June 30, 2013 at 6:21 pm
@auto –
Phoenix IS the 5th largest city on the US in terms of city boundaries, having recently passed Philadelphia. Phoenix has just crossed the 1,600,000 mark while Philadelphia stands at 1,547,000. Only NY, LA, Chicago and Houston are larger municipalities, as compared to metro areas.
Many thanks – it’s definitions again – City Boundaries vs Metro.
Aside from that, very sad news about the firefighters losing their lives in/around Yarnell, Az. Our thoughts are with their families. Brave souls all.
And regarding city rank in terms of area, it looks like Alaska has a lock on the top spots. (Sitka has over 2,000 sq. miles) Honolulu is way up too. (the entire Island of Oahu) Phoenix might be 6th in the contiguous 48. Now if someone would use a criteria like energy density to delineate urban vs sub-urban, agricultural, rural, ranch, mining, wilderness, etc. we might know something useful.
Trumpeting local temp records? A summer like all others.
@miked1947 at 9:16 pm
None of them [CRN stations] have enough history in one location to be of any value!
I disagree.
If LV does not show a record, but the CRN does, it would be mildly interesting given the short history of the CRN.
If LV show a record, but the nearest CRN does not, that would be very interesting.
“None.. to be of any value!” So dismissive! “Move along, nothing to see here.” It might be low grade ore, but it might contain some gems.
So strange that everyone is up in arms about the 117 F. When I lived in Vegas in the back in 1990 I swear I recall a heatwave with temps above 120. Apparently a poster above sited a 122 temp. I remember this because I was in my last trimester with my eldest and my AC broke and I spent a couple of days hanging out at a sports book for their AC until my we could get a repairman out to fix it. Now, was this in LV Proper? No, but it was just south, still in the city limits. Or perhaps those were the airport readings. At any rate, what’s is with that?
Sorry, Anthony, but I’m just not grokking any snark-hate in Mosh’s comment. Or BS, for that matter. I find that the
has become distressingly common in the skeptical blogs. Skepticism is supposed to be open-minded and flexible, but too much climate “scepticism” has gotten rigid and dogmatic of late. There have been many records set or matched in the last week in the southwest, and dismissing them out of hand only dings the credibility of skeptics and blogs like WUWT; especially since clusters happen and a few weeks of record warms don’t mean squat in the longer trends. This is what I tell uninformed friends and family, and is how skeptics should be responding to MSM hype (I would, however, find these record warms less remarkable if there were a similar cluster(s) of record colds this year – anyone?).