Death Valley was cooler than Missoula, Montana on Sunday
By Angela Fritz
August 4 at 5:02 pm
Death Valley, Calif., which is known for being the world’s hottest location, maxed out at a relatively chilly 89 degrees on Sunday. This temperature – nearly 30 degrees below average – was its coolest high temperature on record for the date by a whopping 15 degrees. The previous record of 104 was set in 1945.
This was only the eighth time that a high in the 80s has occurred in Death Valley in July or August, and there hasn’t been a high less than 90 since 1984. Weather records in Death Valley go back to 1911.
Locations that were hotter than Death Valley yesterday include Spokane Wash. (93), Missoula, Mont. (91), Casper, Wy. (92), and Boise, Idaho (99).
The average June high in Death Valley is 110 degrees, July is 117 degrees, and August is 115. This makes Sunday’s high temperature a ridiculous 26 degrees below normal.
Death Valley set the world’s record hottest temperature of 134 degrees on July 10, 1913.
The relatively cool air resulted from extensive cloud cover that blocked out the usual blistering sunshine. These clouds were a product of the Southwest Monsoon which transported unusual amounts of moisture into Southern California, where record rainfall occurred in some areas complemented by floods/mudslides in the mountains.
8:51 p.m. correction: The original version of this post incorrectly stated the average June, July and August highs were 120, 124, and 122, respectively. These numbers have been updated to 110, 117 and 115.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/08/04/death-valley-was-cooler-than-missoula-mont-on-sunday/
