Which U.S. state recorded the hottest temperature in history?

Death Valley: The Hottest Place on Earth

On July 10, 1913, a thermometer at Furnace Creek in California's Death Valley hit 134°F (56.7°C). That single reading didn't just set a U.S. record — it became the highest reliably recorded air temperature anywhere on the planet, a mark that still stands more than a century later.

Why Death Valley Gets So Extreme

Death Valley sits in the Mojave Desert, straddling the border of California and Nevada, and its geography is essentially designed by nature to trap heat. The valley floor lies about 282 feet below sea level — the lowest point in North America — and it's surrounded by steep mountain ranges on all sides. Those mountains block coastal breezes and force air downward. As air descends, it compresses and heats up. There's almost no moisture to absorb that heat, and the sparse, dark desert soil radiates it right back into the atmosphere.

It's a perfect storm of geology and climate, and the result is a place that regularly exceeds 120°F in summer without breaking a sweat.

The 1913 Record in Context

The reading was taken by a weather observer named Oscar Denton at the Greenland Ranch station (now known as Furnace Creek Ranch). In the years since, some meteorologists have raised questions about whether equipment errors or observational issues might have inflated the number slightly. A similar debate surrounded a 136°F reading from El Azizia, Libya in 1922, which the World Meteorological Organization officially invalidated in 2012 — handing Death Valley the undisputed world title.

So California now holds both the U.S. record and the global record for surface air temperature. That's a distinction no other state — or country — can claim.

Death Valley Still Pushes the Limits

The 1913 record may be historic, but Death Valley isn't resting on it. In August 2020, the valley recorded 130°F (54.4°C), the highest temperature measured anywhere on Earth in the modern era of comprehensive weather monitoring. Climate scientists noted it as a sobering milestone in the context of rising global temperatures.

Ground surface temperatures in the valley are even more staggering — regularly exceeding 200°F in peak summer, hot enough to fry an egg on the pavement (though it takes a little longer than the movies suggest).

A Place Worth Knowing

Despite its reputation, Death Valley is a national park visited by over a million people each year — though most are wise enough to come between November and March. It holds a strange beauty: salt flats, sand dunes, colorful badlands, and an eerie silence that makes the heat feel almost surreal.

California is famous for a lot of things. Turns out, being the hottest place in recorded human history is quietly one of them.