A National Weather Service (NWS) freeze warning was still in place for Death Valley National Park in California on Thursday morning after being issued in high-elevation regions of the park for the overnight hours on Wednesday.
This summer, Death Valley battled record-breaking temperatures. July 2024 was the hottest month on record in the park, with an average 24-hour temperature of 108.5 degrees Fahrenheit, Newsweek previously reported. The previous record was 108.1 degrees Fahrenheit, set in 2018. Temperatures were so high, they caused heat-related deaths, as well as injuries, in the desert park. The hottest temperatures typically occur in Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America.
However, temperatures in the park's mountainous areas are more apt to fall to freezing or below. Overnight on Wednesday, elevations in the park around 6,000 to 6,500 feet dipped to near-freezing, low enough to prompt NWS meteorologists to issue a freeze warning.
The freeze warning was expected to remain in place until 9 a.m. local time on Thursday.
"Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing. Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold," the NWS office in Las Vegas, which oversees the Death Valley forecast region, said in the warning. "To prevent water pipes from freezing; wrap or drain or allow them to drip slowly."
The office also issued freeze warnings for the northwest deserts in Arizona and western Clark County and southern Nye County in Nevada, warning of temperatures as low as 19 degrees Fahrenheit.
Temperatures also have fallen in Badwater Basin, though they haven't approached near-freezing levels. Overnight on Wednesday, Badwater Basin temperatures dipped to 58 degrees Fahrenheit. As of Thursday morning, they had risen slightly to 60 degrees, with a forecast high of 77 degrees. Average low temperatures in Badwater Basin for this time of year are 54 degrees, NWS meteorologist Barry Pierce told Newsweek.
Pierce added that the office likely won't issue another freeze warning for the same area on Thursday night.
"This was the first freeze for some of these lower elevations, so we put that first freeze watch out for that purpose," Pierce said. "It is the end of the growing season in some of these areas. After that, our criteria gets colder. We don't put additional freeze warnings out until it gets down to 20 or 25 degrees."
Several heat-related deaths occurred in Death Valley this summer. A 57-year-old man died from effects of the park's extreme heat on August 1, when temperatures soared to over 119 degrees Fahrenheit, Newsweek previously reported. Another man died from hyperthermia after crashing his car in the park. A Belgian tourist suffered third-degree burns on his feet after losing his flip-flops in the park.
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