World's Hottest Place Records Its Hottest Month

The world's hottest place recorded its hottest month ever recorded. Death Valley, California, perhaps best known for owning the world's hottest reliably-recorded temperature, will set its hottest monthly temperature record once final numbers are calculated this week. Through Tuesday, Death Valley had an average monthly temperature of 108.0°, more than a half degree warmer than the record set last year in the same location of 107.4°. A persistent ridge of high pressure has mostly held stationary over the western third of the country, keeping this part of the country unusually warm and dry. Inversely, the same pattern has led to historic amounts of rain across the East Coast, including Baltimore, Maryland; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina all recording their wettest Julys on record. The heat isn't going away any time soon, either. Death Valley's next week is expected to run well above average for this time of year, though it probably won't be quite as hot as last week, when temperatures broke daily records, including a four-day stretch of 127° daily highs last Tuesday through last Friday. Stay with WeatherNation for the latest on the excess heat out West. For WeatherNation: Meteorologist Chris Bianchi