From NOAA/NWS Western Regional Headquarters, something that makes me wonder if they’ll have a similar celebration of the coldest temperature in the USA of −79.8 °F (−62.1 °C) recorded in Prospect Creek, Alaska on January 23rd, 1975, or the coldest temperature on Earth of −128.6 °F ( −89.2 °C ) at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica, on July 21st, 1983. Somehow, I doubt it.
They offer this once in a lifetime event (open to the public):
Join the Celebration:
On July 10th, 1913 the weather observer at Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California recorded a high temperature of 134°F (56.7°C). This is the highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth. Please join us at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the world record high temperature. By attending you will:
- Experience the conditions that make Death Valley the hottest place on Earth.
- Be there as the official temperature observation is made.
- Learn about Weather and Climate Extremes (WMO Extremes Archive)
- Learn about how another claim to the world’s hottest temperature title was invalidated after 90 years.
- Learn about protecting yourself from extreme heat from people who live there.
Guest Speakers:
- Christopher Burt – Weather Underground
- Dr. Randall Cerveny – Ariz. State University/World Meteorological Organization
- Chris Stachelski – NOAA’s National Weather Service – Las Vegas, NV
- TBD – Death Valley National Park
About the record:
Death Valley, California is known for being a land of extremes, including its climate. Temperatures here normally reach or exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit from mid-May until early October. On July 10, 1913 a temperature of 134 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded here which stands as the hottest air temperature ever recorded on a properly sighted and maintained thermometer anywhere in the world.
During July 1913, Death Valley endured an intense stretch of hot weather from the 5th through the 14th when the high temperature reached 125 degrees Fahrenheit or greater every day. This 10 day consecutive stretch ranks as the longest such period on record here. The hottest days were from the 9th through the 13th when the high reached at least 129 degrees Fahrenheit. The most sweltering day was on July 10th when the temperature spiked to 134 degrees Fahrenheit. Although Death Valley was known for being an extremely hot place, this reading helped to solidify this reputation.
On September 13, 1922 a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded at El Azizia, Libya. This was eventually certified by the World Meteorological Organization as the hottest air temperature ever recorded on Earth. However, evidence about the 136 degree reading suggested that it was invalid. On September 12, 2012 the World Meteorological Organization officially re-certified the 134 degree reading at Death Valley as the all-time highest air temperature recorded on the planet.
Agenda:
| 11:00 – 12:00 | Press conference and media interviews |
| 12:00 – 12:20 | What Makes Death Valley the Hottest Place on Earth? – NWS |
| 12:20 – 12:45 | History of the Death Valley Weather Station – Chris Stachelski, NWS |
| 12:45 – 1:30 | What is it Like to Live in the Hottest Place on Earth? – NPS |
| 1:30 – 1:50 | Break |
| 1:50 – 2:35 | Overturning the Libya Record – Christopher Burt, Weather Underground |
| 2:35 – 3:20 | World’s hottest recorded temperature? Who’s to blame? – Dr. Randall Cerveny, WMO/ASU |
| 3:20 – 3:45 | What Made July 10, 1913 So Hot? – Chris Stachelski, NWS |
| 3:45 | Head outside for 4:00 temperature observation. |
Contact Information:
| Dan Berc | Cheryl Chipman |
| Warning Coordination Meteorologist | Public Information Officer |
| National Weather Service | Death Valley National Park |
| Las Vegas, NV | Furnace Creek, CA |
| daniel.berc@noaa.gov | cheryl_chipman@nps.gov |
| (702) 263-9744 x223 | (760) 786-3207 |
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Word has it that CNN will be there. Hopefully Al Gore will attend also so that we can get the full power of the Gore effect demonstrated on international television.
Barring that, I have a friend who flies an air fire tanker who might be able to supply some instant comic relief.
I assume everybody will be parking their cars as close to the weather station as possible?
Also, will they be checking the temperature every few minutes just in case they they miss getting the reading on TV?
This looks like the “Golly Gee!” contingent at NOAA. They seem to be breathlessly naive about their own PR effort. Only “true believing” alarmists could muster the energy to celebrate the possibility that a 100 year high temperature record might be broken. There is no point in giving them the standard explanation of why high temperatures record are worthless.
Will wonders never cease? Might NOAA minds be opening up beyond the ‘consensus science’ crowd? I think it is noteworthy that this NOAA-sponsored program includes Dr. Cerveny, who is a listed ‘Expert’ by the Heartland Institute.
This marketing event just shows how broke the CA parks are and desperately need the cash flow. It is kind of like the photo radars that they have installed at the stop signs in some of the state parks that send you a $50.00 ticket for not completely coming to a stop even though you are already only going 15 mph through the parking lot because of all the speed bumps.
‘Eli rather suspects this event is the result of some real science. Read it.’
Yes, real science! An inaccurate surface temperature reading that took 90 years to adjust downward.
The only thing Death Valley needs is more cowbell.
Meanwhile… on the other (eastern) side of the ridge this morning…
Record Low set at Amarillo: 55°F (previous 56° in 1924)
Record Low tied at Borger: 57°F (original 57° in 1995)
So much for sequestration in the NWS.
A war buddy of mine experienced 140 degrees F on the ramp in Kuwait with a plastic thermometer & recorded the sweaty event. It used to be my screen wallpaper.
More NOAA conference, travel, and PSA costs at a time of sequester cuts? How can that be?
In amongst all this pie-throwing, can I say that visiting Death Valley, Badwater and surrounds was one of the landmark experiences of my life. I wasn’t stupid enough to go there in summer, though.
In the middle of vast, flat, deeply encrusted salt flats were little puddles inhabited by brine shrimp and other creatures. The sun sizzled off the salt like it was snow – and in the distance were forbidding mountains with romantic names like The Badlands.
At the risk of further over-running the place with tourists, can I say that along with the Grand Canyon, it is a wonder of the world.
Shouldn’t the very fact that it took 100 years (i.e. nearly 2/3 of the entire Industrial Age) to break the old record by a statistically insignificant margin say everything about the insignificance of this event WRT alleged anthropogenic global warming?
izen says:
July 2, 2013 at 5:39 am
Even if the record temperature of 134 deg F is equalled or exceeded this year it will not be as extreme a hot record as the 1913 event.
The decade average back then was around two deg F lower than the present so that 134deg F record was two degrees more above the average than any current record.
Nope, you appear to be confusing global with regional. You would have to know the “average” of the Death Valley region at that time to determine delta increase. And, as was shown in the thread below, the Death Valley temperatures are not easily determined by so-called global temperatures.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/30/it-seems-noaa-has-de-modernized-the-official-death-valley-station-to-use-older-equipment-to-make-a-record-more-likely/
brians356 says:
July 2, 2013 at 10:46 am
Absolutely. But alarmists are allergic to the obvious.
Theo,
My hometown of Lewiston, Idaho (LWS) sees average high temperatures of 89 degrees (f) in July. The all-time high temperature record of 117 degrees (!) was recorded in … … 1962. Oh the irony.
“””””…..AndyG55 says:
July 2, 2013 at 4:10 am
ps.. do people realise that when the sun is directly overhead at the equation, the 342w/m2 reading is well inside the arctic circle !! (75 deg to be nearly precise)……””””””
“…when the sun is directly overhead at the equation, the 342w/m2 reading is well inside the arctic circle !! …””
Well, I doubt it.
I’ll give you the typo , and have the sun over the equator, instead of whichever equation you had in mind.
But not this : “””””…..the 342w/m2 reading…..”””””
With the sun on the equator, both poles are in sunlight: All day long in fact, since the sun is only over the equator at the equinoxes. And at the equinoxes, the TSI, total solar insolation is fairly close to 1362 W/m^2.
Nobody ever got a “””””…..reading……””””” of 342W/m^2 when pointing a radiometer at the sun.
Now the polar sun elevation is not going to be much, maybe one degree max, due to atmospheric refraction. When the bottom limb of the sun is apparently right on the horizon (oceanic) the sun itself is completely below the geometrical horizon.
But at your 75 deg. latitude, the equinoxial sun elevation will be more than 15 degrees above the horizon. At that sun elevation, the atmospheric extinction, is nowhere near 75%, so the “reading” will be closer to 1,000 W/m^2 than to 342.
The 342 number is a fiction that nobody ever read on a radiometer pointed at the sun in CAVU.
342 W/m^2 on the ground on the equator, at noon, could not even bring the surface Temperature up to 288 K, let alone +134 deg F.
And I don’t see any reason to place any more credibility in a 134 deg F Death Valley reading in 1913, than a 136 deg F reading in Libya in 1922.
Somebody measured a +173 deg F surface reading on the Las Vegas strip, just the other day. I have no idea what the calibration of the non contact thermometer can guarantee.
But you can’t reach any of those Temperatures at 342 W/m^2, without some very fancy frequency selective surface coatings.
But
Anthony – it’s an extremely good news – a temperature record not broken in 100 years! You should speak there. That’s definitely something to celebrate.
@ur momisugly Eli Rabett
Eli might have missed this:
“”””””……This committee identified five major concerns with the 1922 El Azizia temperature extreme record, specifically 1) potentially problematical instrumentation, 2) a probable new and inexperienced observer at the time of observation, 3) unrepresentative microclimate of the observation site, 4) poor correspondence of the extreme to other locations, and 5) poor comparison to subsequent temperature values recorded at the site.
1) potentially ……………, 2) …. probable new…. inexperienced observer……………….., 3) unrepresentative (yamal like)………….., 4) poor correspondence…….. to other locations (such as Vostok), and 5) poor……….. subsequent (next winter)temperature values ……………
Talk about weasel word “science”. Does “potentially” mean the same as “unprecedented.” ?
My favorite is #2. Yes blame the poor slob who made the observation. I seem to recall that “ad hominem” argument, is the nadir of debating tactics; gets you a fail, even at 4H-club events.
I was impressed by how many eminent international scientist got credit for this hatchet job on some as yet unidentified (maybe Arab) lab technician.
Yeah Eli; the science of innuendo !
But at your 75 deg. latitude, the equinoxial sun elevation will be more than 15 degrees above the horizon. At that sun elevation, the atmospheric extinction, is nowhere near 75%, so the “reading” will be closer to 1,000 W/m^2 than to 342.
Doesn’t the angle of the square meter matter?
At an latitude of 75 degres, the cosine if the normal to the sun is 0.259.
So the maximum incident solar radiation to the ground at 75 deg N at equinox would be
1362 W/m^2 normal incident solar * 0.259 = 352.2 W/m^2 at local noon.
Now deduct for atmospheric dust, clouds, and reflectivity, and angle away from noon.
@Curious George 12:12 pm
Anthony – it’s an extremely good news – a temperature record not broken in 100 years! You should speak there. That’s definitely something to celebrate.
Far be it from me to suggest anyone go there….
But there could be an opportunity to advertize the surfacestations.org project.
Maybe even an impromptu poster session under a big white (shady) awning.
If you are denied permission for a fixed awning, then maybe a human wearing a sandwich board with posters and holding a beach umbrella would garner attention. Just brainstorming.
And I thought that only crazy European tourists (myself included) would visit Death Valley mid-summer. Maybe NOAA only invites innocent Europeans? Or is this a medical test, just to increase the rates of heat related mortality?
Is there some sort of climate controlled facility there where they will be having this event? Or will everyone be standing around in the blazing heat? This seems kind of foolish and irresponsible to gather the general public outdoors for a day in the Death Valley heat for no particular reason!
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Didn’t you know that steam engines were burning coal back then? The original “Coal Trains of Death”! (Valley, that is. Black gold. Texas …er… West Virginia Tea.)
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Never. It’s about understanding cause and effect. (I know. Oversimplified.) Unfortunately some snakes have found a way profit by convincing the sheep that they are to blame for the cause.
@ur momisugly Stephen Rasey
Saved me the bother of explaining.. been my sleep time 🙂
As George says, at 75 degrees, its probably nearer 1000w downward TSI x cos 75 degrees = 260w/m2 incident to surface. so the mythical Trenberthian value of 342w/m2 probably occurs around 70 degrees off centre.
@ur momisugly George.. sorry, the word ‘reading’ was bad. it was nearly midnight though. 🙂
I was referring to surface incident value.