DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. An automated measuring system in California's Death Valley reported a temperature of 130 degrees (54.4 degrees Celsius) amid a blistering heat wave on Sunday, a reading that would be among the highest ever recorded globally if it is confirmed.
If verified, this will be the hottest temperature officially verified since July of 1913, also at Death Valley.
As this is an extreme temperature event, the recorded temperature will need to undergo a formal review," the statement said.
That temperature was 131 degrees (55 Celsius) recorded in Kebili, Tunisia, on July 7, 1931, and it also is disputed.
Death Valley, an austere landscape in the desert of southeastern California, includes Badwater Basin, which at 282 feet (85.9 meters) below sea level is the lowest point in North America.