Why Death Valley so special?
Death Valley is the lowest, driest, and hottest place in the
United States.
The world record for the highest air temperate, 134 degrees F
(57C), was recorded on July 10, 1913, at the "Furnace Creek Ranch"
in Badwater, CA, within Death Valley. The warmest 24-hour
temperature on record occurred there on July 12, 2012, when the
mean temperature was 117.5 °F (47.5 °C).
Annual rainfall is under 2.5 inches in Death Valley. (In 2004,
there was a record high of nearly 6 inches.)
The lowest elevation in the United States, 282 feet (86 m) below
sea levei, occurs in "Badwater Basin" within Death Valley. This
point is less than 100 miles from Mt. Whitney, which, at 14,550
feet, is the highest elevation within the contiguous 48 states.
Prospectors in the 1849 Gold Rush gave it the name "Death
Valley" (despite the fact that only one actual death occurred).
Death Valley National Monument, established in 1933, became a
National Park in 1994.