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- Currently — July 18, 2023: Death Valley sets new all-time world record overnight temperature
Currently — July 18, 2023: Death Valley sets new all-time world record overnight temperature
The temperature was 120°F (48.9°C) at Death Valley after midnight Monday morning — a world first
Eric Holthaus
July 17, 2023
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The weather, currently.
Shortly after midnight on Monday morning it was still a whopping 120°F (48.9°C) at Death Valley in California — the hottest early morning temperature reading in world history.
Here’s what the raw data looked like:
Even though this may not make global headlines, this feels to me like a major global milestone. Public health studies show that excessively hot overnight temperatures cause high death tolls during major heat waves, especially when overnight temperatures fail to fall below 90°F (32.2°C). The human body requires rest at night to recover, especially when subjected to high stress of record heat. Climate change — specifically the added humidity in the air due to increased evaporation rates — causes overnight temperatures to rise at a faster rate than daytime temperatures, worsening this trend.
