We get inquiries all the time about visiting Las Vegas and Death Valley as part of larger SW summer itineraries.

Well - today the high at Furnace Creek is expected to be 129F/54C with an overnight LOW of 101F/38C

That is why we say its a stoooopid idea.

Mad dogs and Englishmen (and Germans and New Englanders, and anyone else daft enough . . .)

But it's a dry heat...

35 years ago, my father drove us out to Death Valley in the Summer and the only thing I remember was all of the kids crying and my mom yelling at him.

We still bring it up occasionally when we are trying to make a point. : )

If you're serious, J62, let me tell you that having been in the Arizona in 115-120 degree weather, the fact that it's dry heat is a very, very minor mitigating faotor. Believe me, it's still very, very, very, very hot!

I wouldn't be caught dead there during the summer...hmm maybe I would.

no, I'm not serious. But I am tired of this @#&%$ humidity we're having here in the east. Dog days of June it seems.

with mosquitos the size of condors...

The flush toilets in the campground are flushed with HOT water.
They truck the water in and put it in tanks on the roof. It is a gravity system. You might want to get out for 5 minutes at Badwater Basin for a picture. At 282 feet below sea level it is the lowest point in N. America.
Been there twice-that's enough.

Actually, the one thing that is better about dry heat than humidity is that you can mitigate it to some extent by moving into the shade. Note I said "somewhat" - there is no way you can make 129F cool

(P.S. The hottest I've been in my life was Egypt in August and it was about 110F, followed by New Orleans in July....they don't hold a candle to 129F!!)

j62 - what's humidity?

In California, that's a non-existent word, unless you want to count the morning fog in the Bay Area.

UM, don't you EVER have rain???? It's impossible to have rain without humidity. I do seem to remember quite a bit of it in SF.

This past Tuesday, I walked home from work - in 80% humidity and boy did I feel it (wear it!) by the time I got home!

We were in Palm Desert a few weeks ago and it hit 110.
And I was the only one who grabbed the uncovered railing to get into the pool.

Lesson learned.

But it's a dry heat . . . like your oven.

nytraveler: there is desert next to the ocean on the west coast.

nytraveler, rasta was exaggerating somewhat. But we don't typically have heat with humidity in California, because we don't typically have heat AND precipitation, because we don't typically have any rain in the summer. This past week was unusual, we had rain with heat and consequently humidity.

Typically out here . . . the higher the temps the lower the humidity. Often into single digits. 8% at 105F is really not bad at all -- I DIED at 85F w/ 90% when I visited Wash. DC.

It feels really muggy here in No Calif today 105F and about 20%. I know that isn't humid in most parts of the country - but it is worse that we are used to.

But 129F is BAD no matter the humidity.

We are so spoiled! This 20% humidity today is terrible!

We're having a heat wave in the SF Bay Area.

My weather bug says it's currently 94 with a relative humidity of 29%.

A lot of us in the area nearest SF don't have air conditioners, as it gets over 90 only 4-5 times a year.

If it gets too "muggy", we call that earthquake weather.

I haven't been outside since early morning, but I'm looking forward to having drinks on somebody's outside deck tonight!!