The hottest & coldest days in Nevada history

A look at the highest and lowest temperatures in Nevada, from scorching heat in Las Vegas to bone-chilling cold in Reno.

When it comes to weather, Nevada goes to extremes. 

The Silver State is the country’s driest, but it’s also teeming with mountains. The dry air and varied topography bring hot summers and cold winters. This summer, the mercury rose to record-breaking heights in Nevada and about 100 other cities in the United States. Meanwhile, the state is also experiencing record lows.

Here’s a look at Nevada’s highest highs and the lowest lows, as well as a few chart-busting temperatures in between.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Living in Southern Nevada comes with the caveat of a sweltering summer. That’s why Vegas folk are keen on air conditioning. 

Sin City outshined itself this summer, eclipsing its previous high by three degrees, reaching 120 on July 7—as officially recorded at Harry Reid International Airport, according to the City of Las Vegas.

The new record was only five degrees shy of 125 degrees, the state’s all-time highest temperature, set by Laughlin in 1994.

Las Vegas set another record on August 1 after 43 consecutive days with a maximum temperature of 105 degrees, per the National Weather Service. In yet another first, the temperature rose above 118 degrees for three consecutive days, according to the World Meteorological Organization. 

Reno, which is located more than 430 miles north of Las Vegas, is typically cooler, though various weather reports show it has reached a record high of 108 degrees four times. 

According to AP News, this summer, the Biggest Little City broke the record for the most consecutive 105-degree days, even reaching 106 degrees on one occasion. A study by Climate Central named Reno among the nation’s fastest-warming summer cities.

The hottest place on Earth

Summer in Vegas and Reno sounds like a breeze compared to Death Valley National Park, which straddles the California-Nevada border, just west of Beatty on Nevada State Route 374. The 3.4 million-acre park is considered the hottest place on Earth. Hence, “Death” Valley.

The national park seemed to be on track to shatter a 111-year-old record on July 7 when temperatures soared to 129 degrees. The record of 134 degrees was set in 1913.

This was considered the park’s hottest meteorological summer with park rangers responding to multiple life-threatening incidents and two fatalities. They also rescued a man who got second-degree burns on his feet after losing his flip flops in the sand dunes, according to the National Park Service.

Triple-digit temperatures are expected at the park into October.

No, it isn’t hot enough to cook an egg

Record-breaking temperatures aside, it probably isn’t hot enough in Nevada to cook an egg on the sidewalk—although the people of TikTok appear to have cracked the code.

According to the Library of Congress, an egg needs a temperature of 158 degrees to be fully cooked and a sidewalk is likely to only reach 145 degrees for reasons including poor heat conductivity and inconsistencies among sidewalks. 

The hood of a car, on the other hand …

Simmer down

While Nevada is known for its sweltering heat, the state also has its fair share of cold weather records.

In Southern Nevada, sunseekers are still hitting the pool, but in Reno, they’re seeing snow. The city recently broke a record for the lowest August temperature with a high of 57 degrees, according to SnowBrains.com. Last year was Reno’s coldest winter since 2008, reported Reno News 4.

In Southern Nevada, Las Vegas saw its earliest recorded low temperature of 8 degrees in 1937, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal article about the cold snaps that made Las Vegas history. 

The article says that it again dipped to “a record minimum temperature of 8 degrees” on Jan. 13, 1963, according to National Weather Service records, although the Review-Journal reported “a low of 10 degrees” on that day. Thousands of residents faced exploding water lines, and “the Las Vegas Valley Water District received a record number of calls for emergency crews.”

The year 1990, in particular, also off the chart for cold weather records in Nevada, according to the article; the 11-degree weather in Las Vegas on Dec. 23, 1990 led to crowded homeless shelters and floods of calls to plumbers to repair frozen or broken pipes. On that day, Reno was minus 13, Ely was minus 29, and Elko was minus 33.

The state’s all-time lowest recorded temperature, minus 50 degrees, dates back to 1937 in San Jacinto, a ghost town and former Union Pacific railroad stop in northern Elko County.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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