A California man collapsed and died after being exposed to scorching temperatures in Death Valley National Park on Tuesday, where the thermometer is reaching triple digits.
The death of the man, a 71-year-old Los Angeles resident whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, was confirmed by authorities. They reported that temperatures reached 121 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley on the day of the incident.
Temperatures have been scalding in California's Death Valley, with Furnace Creek reaching 128 F on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The area holds the record for the hottest-ever temperature, 134 F, on Earth in July 1913.
The weather service said that every day this week the Death Valley temperatures will likely surpass 120 F. This comes after several agencies, including NASA, reported that our planet experienced its hottest June on record last month.
"Heat waves are what we expect in a warming climate," Andrew Pershing, director of climate science at Climate Central, told Newsweek. He added of the June heatwave in the U.S. South: "We expect to have more of these events occur more frequently, more intensely. And this is just following that script."
"Climate change is increasing the severity and frequency of extreme heat events," Kathleen Conley, a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), told Newsweek. "Under a changing climate, coupled with factors such as an ageing demographic and urbanization, heat-related deaths are expected to increase in the future."
There’s been a lot of talk recently about Death Valley temperature records, and rightfully so!
— NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) July 14, 2023
Here’s an official breakdown of the records and our forecast. #cawx #deathvalley pic.twitter.com/dFQGT3U8qZ
Park officials reported that they were alerted about the 71-year-old man feeling sick by visitors. They spotted him outside the restroom of the Golden Canyon hiking trail, a popular destination, and called 911 at about 3:40 p.m.
National Park Service and Inyo County Sheriff's Office responded, with park rangers reaching the man seven minutes after the call to 911, at 3:47 p.m. They performed CPR and used an automated external defibrillator (AED) on the man but could not save him.
The 71-year-old was found wearing a sun hat and hiking clothes and carrying a backpack, according to authorities. His car was in the parking lot. Park officials believe the man had "likely just been hiking the popular trail."
While the official cause of death has not yet been identified, park rangers "suspect heat was a factor," as they wrote in the report announcing the man's death.
"The official temperature at nearby Furnace Creek was 121°F around the time of his death," the rangers wrote. "Actual temperatures inside Golden Canyon were likely much higher, due to canyon walls radiating the sun's heat."
The man could be the second victim of the heat in Death Valley National Park this summer, officials reported. A 65-year-old San Diego man died on July 3. While the cause of death has not been confirmed, "extreme heat appears to have caused his death," park officials said.
Death Valley National Park officials recommend visitors stay safe, limiting their sightseeing to short distances from their air-conditioned cars or hikes in the park's cooler mountains. They recommend visitors avoid hiking at low elevations after 10 a.m.
Data from the CDC shows that heat-related deaths have increased in the U.S. in recent years. Provisional figures obtained by Newsweek show there were over 1,700 deaths in 2022 from heat-related causes.
In 2000, there were 494 heat-related deaths reported, according to CDC data. By 2010, that had risen to 799, and by 2020 to 1,156. Provisional data for 2022 shows an estimated 1,708 heat-related deaths across the U.S.
This is a rise of about 245 percent, vastly exceeding the increase in census-recorded population from 2000 to 2020 of about 18 percent.
