Temperatures in America’s deserts during a typical summer day can easily and frequently soar into the triple digits. The highest temperature in the United States—134-degrees Fahrenheit—was recorded in 1913 in Death Valley. The high temperatures in the day are a simple function of atmospheric conditions prevalent in that band of longitude (notice that the world’s biggest deserts are located along the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn?). Trade winds push moist air toward the tropics, which deprives that moisture via high-pressure systems. Furthermore, tall mountains (like the Rockies in the United States) block moist air, forcing rainfall on the windward side, leaving the leeward side especially dry.
