As we made our final descent into the valley, I was struck by the beauty of this alien-looking landscape. A maze of wildly eroded geological folds gave way to . . .
There are more factoids where that came from, literally hot off the press, despite the fact we lasted only 24 hours in this beautiful hellhole. Early advertisements in the 1920s boasted, “You might enjoy a trip to Death Valley, now ! It has all the advantages of hell without the inconveniences.” Amen to that!
I do think you’ll enjoy my Ten Things You Might Not Know About Death Valley.
The “unofficial” hottest temperature in Death Valley, taken on the ground in direct sunlight, was 201 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m a believer!
These moving masses of superheated air blow through the valley, creating the extremely high temperatures responsible for an evaporation rate approaching 150 inches per year. Rain rarely gets a chance to reach the floor of Death Valley. Precipitation averages only 1.9 inches a year (keep in mind that’s an average; in 1929 and 1953, not a single drop of rain was recorded), although six inches of rain did fall during the winter of 1997-98.