Hottest Places in United States

Places in the United States with extremely hot temperatures aren't necessarily the same ones with the warmest weather year-round.

While Death Valley has a well-earned reputation as the country's hottest place, that's true only for extreme heat. On a year-round basis, Death Valley doesn't even make it into the top ten for hot weather.

Here's how the data stack up for ranking the hottest places in America.

Places With Highest Temperatures

North America's highest temperature ever recorded is 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 degrees Celsius), which occurred at Death Valley, California on July 10, 1913 at Greenland Ranch.

The 134 °F reading was officially reinstated as the world's most extreme high temperature after the World Meteorological Organization examined the records. The WMO concluded that a September 13 1922 measurement of 136.4 degrees F (58 °C) in El Azizia, Libya resulted from errors, rather than exceptional heat. In September 2012, the WMO World Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes announced that Death Valley's record instead stood as the earth's highest surface temperature ever officially observed.

No other United States location has come close to experiencing such intense heat. Indeed temperatures over 120 degrees F (48.9 °C) are unusual events, even in the hottest places of the United States, except Death Valley. At the National Park's, weather station, now called Furnace Creek, the thermometer rises above 120 on five to twenty days a year.

Since it set the North American and world records, Death Valley has recorded daytime highs of 128 or 129 °F several times. The Mojave Desert site reached 129 degrees (53.9 °C) in 1960, 1998, 2005 and 2007. That kind of heat has seldom been felt anywhere else in the USA.

Examples of extreme high temperatures officially recorded in the United States

Location	°F	°C	Date
Death Valley, California	134	56.7	July 10, 1913
Death Valley, California	129	53.9	July 18, 1998
Death Valley, California	129	53.9	July 20, 2005
Death Valley, California	129	53.9	July 7, 2007
Death Valley, California	128	53.3	June 30, 1994
Death Valley, California	128	53.3	July 10, 2002
Lake Havasu City, Arizona	128	53.3	June 29, 1994
Gold Rock Ranch, California	127	52.8	July 28, 1995
Mecca, California	126	52.2	June 26, 1990
Palmdale, California	126	52.2	July 28, 1995
Thermal, California	126	52.2	July 28, 1995
Buckeye, Arizona	125	51.7	July 28, 1995
Laughlin, Nevada	125	51.7	June 29, 1994
Laveen, Arizona	125	51.7	July 28, 1995
Litchfield Park, Arizona	125	51.7	July 29, 1995
Needles Airport, California	125	51.7	July 17, 2005
Willow Beach, Arizona	124	51.1	July 19, 2005
Yuma Airport, Arizona	124	51.1	July 28, 1995
Casa Grande Monument, Arizona	123	50.6	June 30, 1994
Palm Springs, California	123	50.6	July 28, 1995
Phoenix Airport, Arizona	122	50.0	June 26, 1990
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, New Mexico	122	50.0	June 27, 1994

Extreme heat is confined to a small region of the United States stretching roughly from Palm Springs to Phoenix and includes lower elevations of the Mojave Desert. The area takes in several cities: Phoenix, Yuma, Palmdale and Palm Springs, and towns such as Buckeye and Litchfield Park.

Warmest Places All Year

Out of 7,438 weather stations across the United States, just 17 report an average year-round temperature of over 77 °F (25 °C). Most of these spots sit on southern islands, either Hawaii or the Florida Keys.

Hawaii's warmest climates center around the south coast of Oahu and the west coast of Big Island. Ten other places on this list with consistently warm weather lie scattered along the Florida Keys, from Tavernier to Dry Tortugas National Park.

Just three places on the United States mainland make it over the 77 degree threshold. Two are near the Florida Keys, the hottest being the Fort Lauderdale—Hollywood International Airport. Miami's International Airport pulls in with an annual mean temperature that's just half a degree lower.

Death Valley shows up, not at the top of the list this time, but closer to the bottom, with the same yearly average temperature as Miami. While the weather at Furnace Creek sears in summer, the desert cools down enough during winter to bring Death Valley's annual average in line with that of southern Florida. Death Valley does stand out on this list, though, as the only place outside of Hawaii and Florida, and the only place farther than ten miles from the ocean.

The mean annual temperatures given here are long-term historical averages, based on weather data collected from 1981 to 2010 for the NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.

Places in the United States with the highest annual average temperature

Location	°F	°C
Marathon, Florida	78.5	25.8
Boca Chica Key, Florida	78.1	25.6
Kona International Airport, Hawaii	77.9	25.5
Key West, Florida	77.8	25.4
Ft Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport, Florida	77.7	25.4
Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii	77.7	25.4
Conch Key, Florida	77.6	25.3
Barbers Point, Oahu Hawaii	77.5	25.3
Long Point Key, Florida	77.5	25.3
Tavernier, Key Largo, Florida	77.5	25.3
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida	77.4	25.2
Duck Key, Florida	77.3	25.2
Bahia Honda Key, Florida	77.2	25.1
Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California	77.2	25.1
Islamorada, Florida	77.2	25.1
Miami International Airport, Florida	77.2	25.1
Waikiki, Hawaii	77.1	25.1

Places With the Most 100-Degree Weather

The ten places in the nation that most often have really hot weather average over 120 days a year when the temperature climbs to 100 °F (37.8 °C) or higher.

During summer, the heat at these sites is unrelenting. Their thermometers reach the 100s on a daily basis throughout July and August. And the hot weather lasts for many months. Days with 100-degree temperatures start showing up in April and extend into October.

Average number of days a year with temperatures in the 100s Fahrenheit

Location	Days Above 99 °F
Death Valley, California	140
Bullhead City, Arizona	129
Stovepipe Wells, California	126
Mecca, California	125
Gila Bend, Arizona	124
Yuma Quartermaster Depot Park, Arizona	124
Blythe, California	121
Lake Havasu, Arizona	121
Parker, Arizona	121
Willow Beach, Arizona	121

Most Days With Highest Temperature

When it comes to being the hottest place in the continental United States for any single day, Death Valley once again far outpaces the competition. During a recent decade, Death Valley ranked as the day's number one hottest spot nearly three times as often as any other US location.

Top ten places for number of days from 1995 to 2005 with the highest temperature in the USA

Location	Days
Death Valley, California	803
Lake Havasu City, Arizona	276
McAllen, Texas	231
Coolidge, Arizona	215
Thermal, California	202
Laredo, Texas	197
Bullhead City, Arizona	177
Fort Meyers, Florida	159
Lajitas, Texas	138
Gila Bend, Arizona	98