Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, near the Nevada border, and forms a large part of Death Valley National Park. It's known as the hottest, driest, and lowest location in North America. The valley is a graben, a down-dropped block of land between mountain ranges, and lies in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert.
Key features include Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America at 282 feet (86 m) below sea level, and Telescope Peak, the highest point in the park at 11,049 feet (3,368 m). Other attractions are Zabriskie Point, Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Artist's Palette, and Ubehebe Crater. The park is also known for extreme temperatures; the highest ambient air temperature ever recorded on Earth was 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek in 1913.
Recent weather events have brought significant changes. In 2023, record rainfall led to the reappearance of a temporary lake, informally known as Lake Manly, in the Badwater Basin. The lake, which initially appeared after Hurricane Hilary, has persisted longer than usual due to ongoing rainfall, with experts predicting it could last until April or May.
