Temperatures climbed to a record 128 degrees in Death Valley National Park on Saturday and one of a group of motorcyclists suffered from the heat and died, a park ranger said.
Park ranger Nichole Andler said the motorcyclists were visiting the park near Badwater Basin, a salt flat and the lowest point in North America, when in the mid-to-late afternoon They reported being affected by extreme heat.
One of the passengers was pronounced dead at the scene and another was flown to Las Vegas suffering from severe heat exhaustion, Andler said. Four others in the group were treated and released.
Andler said the name or other identifying information of the deceased motorcyclist has not yet been released, and the specific cause of death will be determined by the coroner.
“Yesterday’s temperature was 128 degrees, which was the highest temperature of the day in Death Valley,” the ranger noted. “These people were passing by on motorcycles and likely did not have adequate cooling facilities.”
Hot weather also hampered rescue efforts. Medical helicopters cannot enter the park when temperatures exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit. When air is heated, it expands and becomes thinner than cold air. As a result, the helicopter cannot obtain the lift required for flight.
But Andler said that in addition to park rangers, first responders from Inyo County and nearby Pahrump, Nevada, also assisted the cyclists.
Saturday’s temperature was just shy of Death Valley’s all-time high temperature record of 134 degrees set on July 10, 1913. These times: August 16, 2020, and July 9, 2021.
Each year, at least one to three people die from heat-related illnesses while visiting the parks, and one to three people each week seek medical assistance for heat stress.
“People get so excited about the warmest temperatures they’ve ever experienced that sometimes they forget that if they were hot an hour ago and start feeling sick, then they need to spend the rest of the day in air conditioning – because that could be heat stroke. The earliest signs,” Andler said. “If you warm up and never cool down properly, your body doesn’t have a chance to reset.”
Elsewhere in Southern California, high temperatures shattered records and scorched communities.
Leela Finley Little, 6, cooled off at Tierra Bonita Park in Lancaster where the high temperature on Sunday was 115.
(Danya Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
On Sunday, both Palmdale and Lancaster set records for the day’s highest temperatures, with Palmdale’s high of 114 degrees surpassing the previous record of 110 degrees set in 1989. The daily record of 115 degrees broke the previous record of 110 degrees reported in 1989 and 2017.
The National Weather Service said extreme heat will continue in the South this week, with highs reaching 105 to 115 degrees in inland valleys, mountains and deserts.
Heat warnings are extended through 9 p.m. Thursday for the western San Gabriel Mountains, Antelope Valley, the Angeles Crest Highway and the Highway 5 and Highway 14 corridors.
Heat warnings are in effect through Wednesday for the Santa Clarita Valley, Santa Monica Mountains, Calabasas, San Fernando Valley and eastern San Gabriel Mountains, where temperatures are expected to exceed 100 degrees Celsius, according to the weather service. Spend.
