June 29, 2013 - DEATH Valley

[SPUCK]

Not the usual cellar picture but I thought it would interest the gang. In case you haven't heard the west is having a major heatwave. Triple digits for most of the southern half of the state clear to Mexico.

Please note the current temp when this picture was captured. Nasty! But worse... Look at the time!! (bottom of top center column).

I've been thru Death Valley in the summer on a hot day. Unfortunately it was in an overheating Renault 10. We could not shift out of first gear or it would immediately overheat. No AC naturally. We improvised using a five gallon Jerry Can of water that we'd pour pints of over our heads every few miles. Everything that landed on the seats would be completely gone in minutes.

The most notable event of the trip was feeling the raw energy of the heat. It was very similar to opening a hot oven's door and feeling an almost painful heat physically assaulting you.

If you ever get the chance, go to Death Valley when it's seriously hot. Just drive thru. Takes an hour or two. Stop and get out in Furnace Creek. Bring lots of water..

BTW DV has the world record at 134.1F(56.7C) July 10th 1913.

[Sundae]

Heard this on the radio this morning.
When I was married I wanted to go on a fly-and-drive holiday in the States.
But I couldn't drive, so my husband would be stuck with all the driving.
He took one look at the schedule and said NO.

It involved driving through Death Valley.

I honestly think that was the only issue, because he did enjoy driving, and saw me as a perfect passenger (I was). He didn't drink either, so no crimping his style in that respect. I was disappointed then and am more so now - I wish I had that as a memory.

Still; hot, hot, hot, don't like. Hope anyone driving through now has a well-serviced car and air conditioning

[glatt]

Driving a VW bus without AC through Death Valley, I discovered that if you soak a towel and close it in the car door so it covers the open window, as the hot dry air blows through it, it cools off noticeably. But the towel will be dry in ten minutes so you have to soak it again. It works well, but uses too much water.

[ZenGum]

[shudders]

That's bloody hot, alright.

At least it has the politeness to go down to two digits for the minimum.

[CaliforniaMama]

Originally Posted by Sundae

Heard this on the radio this morning.
When I was married I wanted to go on a fly-and-drive holiday in the States. <snip> It involved driving through Death Valley. <snip> Still; hot, hot, hot, don't like. Hope anyone driving through now has a well-serviced car and air conditioning.

As an over-worked mom, I am clueless about what is happening in the world unless one of my kids, or you guys, tell me about it. I knew it was hot yesterday, just shy of 100 by my backyard thermometer, and I had a touch of the heat exhaustion, but had not heard we were having a heat wave. (We are used to one or two hot days at a time and then it cools down again.)

Today, around 1 pm, it was on the 100 mark. I went across the street to the public pool and did my exercise. I couldn't touch the handrail next to the pool stairs because it was too hot.

It was tempting to just hunch down in the cool water and nap, but my head was still too hot and I got tired of the sweat dripping into my eyes . . .

Anyway, Sundae Death Valley is still here and you can still fly over and drive through. If you come stay with me, it would be about an 8 1/2 hour drive to get there, but you could do it in a weekend. See:



My Death Valley traverse was in an old van, no AC, with the engine cover in the van in between the driver's and passenger's seats. Even when the weather was cold that engine cover was so hot that you could almost get burned touching it.

So, we've got the hot air outside and the engine cover blasting heat on the inside. It was difficult to tell which was hotter.

[ZenGum]

For added fun, if you are driving in extreme temperatures and the engine starts overheating, there is one way to dump extra heat.

Turn the heater on.

Yep, it draws heat out of the engine. Never mind that it dumps it on you. The car must go on.

I found if I used the windscreen defogger and had the front windows open just a crack, this would draw most of the hot air straight out.

The rest is water. In, on, around.

[Degrees]

For what it's worth, my little brother works at Furnace Creek as a porter. Mostly, his job is driving a van between the hotel and a nearby airport. I sure hope that van is in good condition. If not, well he does carry a radio to let dispatch know how far out he is from his next destination.

[SPUCK]

LOL. A radio so if the van breaks down he can have last rites told to him and his passengers.

[blueboy56]

A serious question (for a change): Is there a physical limit as to how hot it can get on Earth's surface? Is there something that prevents the temperature from going above the high 120's?

[footfootfoot]

Furnace Creek. The clue is in the name. (At least it's a dry furnace...)

[CaliforniaMama]

My grandparents had a VW bus and I remember they would use chunks of ice in a bucket and have a fan blowing across it to cool the air.

In The Great Gatsby, I saw the same thing in the background of a party scene.

[Undertoad]

Atmospheric conditions prevent it from being too hot or cold; it's just the energy of the Sun spread out over the earth, and how much is retained by the atmosphere.

[footfootfoot]

I will remember that this fall when I am freezing my ass off in my tree stand.

[SPUCK]

Originally Posted by blueboy56

A serious question (for a change): Is there a physical limit as to how hot it can get on Earth's surface? Is there something that prevents the temperature from going above the high 120's?

Yes. But it's hard to put a finger on exactly what that would be. Once the air gets so hot in one little area that air becomes lighter than the surrounding air. Hence it will rise. Cooler surrounding air is going to come in to replace that air. So that limits the maximum.

Furnace Creek is kinda special. The actual super hot spot there is associated with the local terrain. There is an area that is, I don't know, 40 acres? That the natural soil is damn near black. Like a Costco parking lot from hell. The central spot there gets super heated due to the dark ground. Then because the area is so large 1) there isn't much differential so not a lot of air density difference between the hot stuff and the neighboring hot stuff. Not much air rises. Then 2) what does rise is replaced by super heated neighboring air from the identical acre next door. if you see what I mean.

Look at Google maps and you'll see what I mean. Look at the satellite view of course. You'll also see the airport and hotel Degrees mentioned - where his brother is probably laying on the asphalt sizzling like bacon.

[Degrees]

My brother is probably just trying to find a way to keep the bottoms of his sneakers from melting.