DRIEST -- Place in the United States - Furnace Creek, CA
N 36° 27.685 W 116° 51.998
11S E 511949 N 4035136
Death Valley is the driest place in the US, the lowest place in N America, and the hottest place in the world! WOW
Waymark Code: WMQV15
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 03/29/2016
Views: 11
The waymark coordinates are for the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, where the exhibit on Death Valley proclaims all its superlatives: Driest, Hottest, Lowest,and Largest.
The signs in the visitor center exhibit hall reads as follows:
"DRY
Death Valley is the driest place in the United States and North America. It gets that distinction by having the lowest average annual rainfall of anyplace in the country-- less than 2 inches per year. Some years, there is no rain here at all.
The air, too, is unusually dry. Moisture evaporates quickly from plants and animals-- and people. In the summer you could lose over 2 gallons of water per day just sitting in the shade.
The ultimate desert
A desert is defined by less than 10 inches of rain per year and a rate of evaporation that exceeds its rainfall. Death Valley gets less than 2 inches of rain and has the evaporation rate 75 times its rainfall. That's a dry desert indeed!
And even drier future?
Global climate change will likely mean even drier weather for Death Valley. Most climate models indicate decreased annual rainfall in snowpack across the Southwest."
and
The waymark coordinates are for the Furnace Creek Visitor Center, where the exhibit on Death Valley proclaims all its superlatives: Driest, Hottest, Lowest,and Largest.
The sign in the visitor center exhibit hall reads as follows:
"LOW
Badwater Basin, in the heart of Death Valley, is 282 feet below sea level. It's the lowest point in North America.
Discovering Death Valley's Depth
To 19th-century Americans, it was unthinkable that a valley hundreds of miles from the ocean could be below the sea.
When Joel Brooks, a guide for the US in California boundary commission of 1861, first suggested it, his companions laughed at him. To their chagrin, the parties barometric readings showed the valley floor to be well below sea level. Still, even after the commission reported. This astounding finding, few believed it to be true."
and
"HOT
Death Valley is officially the hottest place on earth. It holds the world record for hottest air temperature, 134*F (57*C).
Record year
For five days in a row in July 1913, Death Valley experience temperatures hotter than any other place in the world. That record stands unbroken, despite a higher temperature reading in Libya that has since been discredited.
An even hotter future?
Death Valley also has the warmest overall climate, with summer days regularly hitting 120*F (49*C), and nights remaining in the low 100s. Global warming is likely to make Death Valley summertime temperatures even more extreme. Climate models predict hotter weather here and a longer hot season."
Type of documentation of superlative status: exhibit
Location of coordinates: at the entrance to the visitor center
Web Site: [Web Link]
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