Death Valley heat hit a new record in June

The national park 100 miles west of Las Vegas just wrapped up its hottest June in more than a century of recordkeeping, with an average temperature of 101.9 degrees.

And that’s the average for the month, not the average daily high, which clocked in at 115.5 degrees in June.

“We’re not even in the hottest part of the summer yet,” said Death Valley National Park Superintendent Mike Reynolds in a written statement. “Who knows what July and August will bring.”

Last month’s record heat included a long stretch on June 21 when the temperature never fell below 101.

The new mark of 101.9 tops the previous record of 101.3 set in June 2013 at the park’s official weather station in Furnace Creek, California. The average temperature for a typical June in Death Valley is 95.5