If you were waiting to visit Death Valley when it gets hot, your time has arrived.
Death Valley National Park reached the 100-degree mark at 2:17 p.m. Tuesday, said Julie Phillipson of the National Weather Service office in Las Vegas. It’s the first time this year the park has reached the century mark. Only two other times, on March 17 in 2007 and 2013, has the park in eastern California hit 100 this early in the year.
Other early arrivals of the century mark happened on March 21, 2004, and March 25 in 1930, 2022 and 2025.
Death Valley, known as “the hottest place on Earth” and popular with tourists, recorded its hottest summer ever in 2024. The park holds the official (and disputed) all-time global heat record of 134 degrees, set in July 1913.
Death Valley has attracted a lot of visitors this year for its “superbloom” of wildflowers and the re-emergence of Lake Manly at Badwater Basin after fall flooding.
Big heat in Southwest
The Southwest is feeling the effects of an unprecedented heat wave that likely will break several records this week.
The Las Vegas Valley is expected to see the mid-to-upper 90s this week. The hottest temperature ever recorded in March in Las Vegas was 93, set in 2022.
Phoenix is expected to have five straight days of triple digit temperatures this week — only once before, in 1988, has the city recorded a 100-degree day in March, the Associated Press reported.
Contact Mark Davis at mdavis@reviewjournal.com.
