Death Valley is the lowest, driest and hottest valley in the United States. Located at the southeast of the Sierra Nevada range in the Great Basin and the Mojave Desert, mostly located on Inyo County, California.
The Valley is located principally between the Amargosa Range to the east and the Panamint Range to the west; the Sylvania Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern natural boundaries, respectively.
The valley registers some of the highest temperatures in the Western hemisphere. 56.7 °C was recorded in 1913, second only to the 58 ºC registered in El Aziza, Libya on Sept. 13, 1922. Temperatures in the Valley can range from up to 54 °C in the day in summer, to below freezing at night in winter. The lowest temperature (-9 °C) was registered at Furnace Creek Inn.
Climate has played its part. In recent geological time, influential forces of water, wind, and gravity have sculptured much of the scenery that can you see today. In the harsh environment of the floor of Death Valley, plants and animals must inexorably adapt and specialize, or perish.
The average yearly rainfall here is less than 2 inches. Plants that do not grow near springs, have adapted and specialized in obtain, and preserve the water, or have adapted to quick growth and propagation through maximum use of the scant rains that fall upon them.
The valley received its name in 1849 during the California Gold Rush, when the first non-Native Americans arrived in Death Valley, who sought to cross the valley to the gold fields, though only one emigrant was recorded to have died during the Rush. During the 1850s, gold and silver were extracted in the valley. In the 1880s, borax was discovered and extracted by mule-drawn wagons.
Various mining operations used the valley afterwards, and calls for conservation began, President Hoover, declaring about two million acres of the area a national monument on February 11, 1933; the park covers almost 3,000 square miles and is a vast natural museum, larger than the Yellowstone National Park.
This unique national park is open all year. Winter is the best time to visit the points of interest in the valley. The long, hot summer (May-October) is only for the hardy and venturesome.
Parts of the valley receive less than 50 mm of rain every year. At Furnace Creek Inn has an average of annual rainfall of 2.33 inches, or only 18 days of measurable rainfall every year. Record of monthly rainfall they were of 2.59 inches in January, 1995, and 1.47 inches on April 15, 1988.
Many of the narrow ways and serpentine roads of the Valley Of death were constructed in the years of 1930. It is not possible to drive to high speed. Badwater, located within Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest point in North America. Generally, the lower the altitude of a place, the higher the temperatures tend to be.
In winter, precipitation approaching Death Valley is released onto the slopes to its west, causing a rain shadow. The four major mountain ranges to the west of Death Valley contribute to this effect.
In summer, the geography of Death Valley with its sparse vegetation and dry air causes sunlight to heat the valley from the ground up. The valley traps the hot air, and nights in summer often being of temperatures of 30 °C to 35 °C, causing more heating to increasing the air pressure.
Today human presence is represented mainly by the annual half million visitors drawn by the vastness of mountain panoramas, the pleasure of the winter climate, and the lore of frontier life.
The protected area was extended in 1994 (by the Desert Protection Act) to include an additional 1200,000 acres, mainly in the little-visited northwest section, and was upgraded in status to a National Park; this now covers 3 million acres, making it the largest in the US outside Alaska.