The temperature hit 130°F (54.4C) in Death Valley last week. Just knowing that can make you sweat, but there are people actually living and working in Death Valley. How do they cope with such heat not only this year, but year after year as the desert warms up? Park ranger Brandi Stewart of the Death Valley National Park taels us about her life in the heat.
“Overall, we spend a lot of time indoors,” she says. “On our days off, many rangers go hiking or camping in the mountains to spend some time outdoors without the heat. For those who have a water heater with a tank, many rangers will turn off the water heater, so that water becomes the ‘cold’ water, and the water running through the pipes becomes the ‘hot’ water. Unfortunately, my house has a tankless water heater, so while it saves energy, my home only has hot and hotter water in the summer.”
Lastly, Stewart mentions that she and many other park rangers have misters lining their porches to help them stay cool. “But really, anything above 120 is too hot, even with the misters,” she says.
Good advice for humans, but other species survive and even thrive at higher temperatures. Learn how they do it at Mel magazine.