https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-07-07/motorcyclist-dies-death-valley-128-degrees
As the temperature climbed to a record 128 degrees in Death Valley National Park, a group of motorcyclists was sickened by the heat, and one died.
If anyone is looking for good read about another group of people that died of exposure in Death Valley, The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans does not disappoint.
It just seems so moronic. That's getting up to a temperature where your body can't cool down enough and it's going to be fatal with prolonged exposure.
Not only that… the air is incredibly dry, it’s a few hundred feet below sea level, and the only real way to get into Death Valley is up massive mountains/hills on either side. So those put a strain on even vehicles as they’re traveling. I just went to Death Valley in March (I like visiting NPs and knew I would hate Death Valley). There’s signs saying to turn off your AC for the next 20 miles as the incline is steep and the heat is taxing on vehicles. It’s insane that people go there in summer. It was like 90 degrees in Late March already.
One of the riders was pronounced dead at the site, and another person with severe heat illness was taken to Las Vegas…
I don't understand, it seems these knuckleheads rode a motorcycle, through death valley, in the summer, unprepared. Natural selection? I keep seeing posts on how fatal the heat is this summer because of global warming. While global warming is significant, I live in the asshole of Arizona, that couple degrees above average doesn't make a bit of difference on the survivability on a given day. It's already bullshit ass hot, what's bullshit ass hot PLUS a degree or two.
The long term effects of the extra few degrees is big, but a person that's going to die in the heat at 128, probably would have died at 127 too.
I worked in the area long ago. Rangers told me about German tourists that would rent those big motorcycles and drive through Death Valley and get into trouble. Coming from Europe, they wouldn't appreciate just how hot "hot" could get. (note: I'm not sure the nationality involved here)