Death Valley sets new cold temperature record by wide margin

A new record: low maximum temperature beats the old one by 15 degrees!

From the NWS in Las Vegas:

RECORD EVENT REPORT

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV

1000 AM PDT MON AUG 4 2014

...RECORD LOW MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE BROKEN IN DEATH VALLEY YESTERDAY...

THE HIGH TEMPERATURE IN DEATH VALLEY REACHED 89 DEGREES YESTERDAY

AUGUST 3. THIS BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 104 DEGREES SET IN 1945.

THIS WAS ALSO ONLY THE 7TH TIME SINCE 1911 THAT HIGH TEMPERATURES IN

AUGUST REMAINED IN THE 80S.

THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS PRELIMINARY AND IS SUBJECT TO A FINAL

REVIEW AND CERTIFICATION BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER.
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phlogiston
August 5, 2014 12:52 pm

There may be a La Nina in the next few months. Already there is an Atlantic “La Nina”. When the Pacific one follows then global temperatures could head south.

A. Smith
August 5, 2014 1:37 pm

Dave Legeno should have postponed his Death Valley a month. Brave soul, but they didn’t name it Death Valley for nothing.

August 5, 2014 3:12 pm

Berkley Earth Station pages:
“Greenland Ranch”
36.4625 ± 0.0125 N 116.8684 ± 0.0075 W Elevation: -55.15 ± 4.00 m
http://berkeleyearth.lbl.gov/stations/31318
1911-2013, 3 Station Moves, 2 since 1990, 8 Empirical Break points. (2 since 1980))
DegC / Century: 1.18 Raw, 1.29 after QC, 0.94 after Breakpoint.
Regional Consistency “R value”: 0.60 Raw, 0.67 QC, 0.67 Breakpoint.
“Death Valley”
36.5000 ± 0.0500 N 116.9000 ± 0.0500 W Elevation: -59.00 ± 0.50 m
(is this an artificial location? the evenness of the lat long is odd.)
http://berkeleyearth.lbl.gov/stations/31347
1911-1990 (why did it stop?)
No station moves, 7 Breakpoints, 3 between 1960-1980, none 1980-1990.
DegC / Century: 1.65 Raw, 1.76 after QC, 0.63 after Breakpoint.
Regional Consistency “R value”: 0.67 Raw, 0.66 QC, 0.68 Breakpoint.
Is “R value” really R or R^2. If R, then the R^2 are 0.36 to 0.44.
I did not find any station labeled “Furnace Creek”

August 5, 2014 3:53 pm

forecast.weather.gov gives for Furnace Creek, CA: 36.45°N 116.87°W
Berkeley Earth lists
Greenland Ranch as 1.39 km from this Lat/Long
“Death Valley” as 6.17 km away.
USCRN SITE NEAR STOVEPIPE WELLS 1SW, CA (ISWC1)
Elev: 80 ft; Latitude: 36.60194; Longitude: -117.14500
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=vef&sid=ISWC1&num=72&raw=0
Aug. 4 Hi of 97 deg. Lo 78 deg F
which is 24.6 km from “Death Valley” and 29.2 km from “Greenland Ranch”
Berkeley Earth station record:
http://berkeleyearth.lbl.gov/stations/31424
June 2004 – Oct 2013.
No station moves, No Break points,
but there are 3 months with Quality Control issues; one in late 2006!
There is a seasonal +2.2 to -3.5 deg C difference to the “regional trend”
Another nearby station: COW CREEK
36.5333 ± 0.0001 N 116.8833 ± 0.0001 W Elevation: -46.00 ± 0.05 m
http://berkeleyearth.lbl.gov/stations/31364
1934 – 1961
one Empirical Break point, about 0.4 deg C about late 1957. And this is odd, look at the difference to regional expectation which is a seasonal +2 to -3.5 deg C.
DegC / Century: 3.12 Raw, 2.63 after QC (3 months) , 1.18 after Breakpoint.
Regional Consistency “R value”: 0.70 Raw, 0.68 QC, 0.66 Breakpoint. (it went down!)

brians356
August 6, 2014 10:52 am

FWIW,
The National Weather Service reports Reno, NV, only reached a high temperature of 66 degrees on Tuesday 5 August. The previous record for lowest high temperature was 73 set in 1891,

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