Death Valley hitting 130 degrees Sunday might be the hottest temperature ever recorded in the world and is at least the hottest recorded in the U.S. in 107 years, CBS News reported.
The previous "reliably" recorded high on Earth was 129.2 degrees in Death Valley in 2013.
NOAA's Weather Prediction Center's reading has yet to be verified, and the 134 degrees recorded in Death Valley in 1913 is deemed by some experts as a likely observer error. That estimation was made by Weather Underground's Christopher Burt in 2016, saying the record number in Death Valley was very high relative to those recorded in surrounding areas.
In 1913, Death Valley was around 10 degrees higher than others in the area.
Burt also raised doubt about the 131 degree day in 1931 in Africa's Tunisia, saying it had "serious credibility issues."
The record high is a part of a "heat dome" over the West Coast from Washington state down to Arizona, particularly in the desert areas of the Southwest.
Monday and Tuesday were expected to be the peak of the heat wave, although it is expected to merely drop just a few degrees for the next 10 days, according to the report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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