100 Years Ago
The hottest day in recorded history was about one-hundred years ago. The place: Greenland Ranch in California (now known as Furnace Creek, California since 1933.) The date: July 13th,1913. The weather hit (get ready for this) 134 degrees! What!? Not only was this a record for the united states of America, it was, and still is, a world record! Go U.S.A! California is representing.
Only a few years later in 1922, someone in Libya allegedly recorded an even higher heat than that famous day on 1913. This recording, though it held up for decades and decades, was later debunked and proven to be recored by an ametuer that used faulty equipment.
Heatstroke open
Furnace Creek now holds an annual “heatstroke open” golf tournament. It’s a legitimate pun. Of all the places on planet Earth, this is the spot where the outrageous 134 degrees occurred. The heat still gets quite awful so the valley can be frequently shut down during the summer time. Can’t imagine too many people living there? You’re imagination is right – the 2010 Census only had a population of 24 recorded, a few people below what it had been in 2000.
It Burns!
Can you imagine that heat? What it would feel like to walk in 134 degree weather? Now, even worse, imagine what it would feel like without air conditioning? Remember, it would be for a while until Willis Carrier’s modern AC that was invented around two years earlier would be making way into homes so anyone unfortunate enough to be near the place was suffering! Sort of makes you wonder how the weather post that recorded heat back then held up so well. Well, actually, it did just barely hold up – the record heat was only fortunately successful as the maximum recording abilities the post had was 135 degrees, one degree higher than what was recorded.
The Future
Do you sometimes feel like the hottest days are coming just around the corner from the Austin sun? If the above record is ever broken in the U.S., which state do you think it will be be broken in? Maybe Texas? Perhaps someone overseas? Maybe Libya will pull an upset and reclaim the title but this time for real… We’ll have to wait and see.
For help in writing this blog, we used this resourceful article from history.com! Thanks for checking out our blog today. Be sure to check back next week for more exciting topics. If you need Austin heating or Austin cooling, then come to the pros at CSS!
"