John Langeler and Linsey Lewis
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — For truly scorching temperatures, you only have to go about three hours outside of Las Vegas to Death Valley, California which has set several daily records over the last week, but not the big one.
The all-time record high in Death Valley is 134 degrees which was set on July 10, 1913. While it hasn’t quit that record yet, temperatures are still extremely high, or as some visitors would call it — perfection.
Adrian Preda brought his two sons to Death Valley from Anaheim as he wanted them to sample the suffocating heat.
“Did we find the only person in Death Valley who thinks this is bearable?” 8 News Now anchor John Langeler asked to which Preda responded, “Not only bearable, it’s nice.”
For the young stragglers, it felt more like a sentence than an adventure.
Such is the summertime tradition in Death Valley, the higher the temperature, the more people want to see it. The Furnace Creek Visitor Center was full all day Monday where it was a pleasant 71 degrees.
Park Ranger Jeanette Jurado told 8 News Now that she is used to the commotion and that it fits into what’s been a year of wild weather in the park including damaging floods, an unexpected lake, and very expected heat.
“Death Valley keeps us on our toes,” Jurado said. “On the days when we are approaching 130 degrees, we know it’s part of Death Valley’s extreme nature.”
But that’s what keeps people coming from as far away as Austria.
“The extremeness of this place is one of the reasons that makes it special,” Jurado said.
