Today is the anniversary of the highest temperature ever officially recorded in the United States - 134^oF in Death Valley California, on July 10, 1913. This is the second highest temperature ever officially recorded in the world - the highest is 136^oF in the Sahara desert.

It's no fluke that the United States' highest temperature occurred in Death Valley. It's a harsh desert environment with the lowest elevation of any place in the Western Hemisphere. Average annual rainfall there is just one and a half inches. Last year, temperatures rose above 100^oF on 153 straight days, and as recently as 1994 there were 31 consecutive days with highs above 120^oF!

A Death Valley park ranger once said: "Visitors come up to me and say it's not so hot here. They say where they live they can put a frying pan out in the sun on a hot summer day, crack an egg, and fry it right up. Well, I explain that we can do the same thing here, only we can do it in the shade."