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About Deserts
Whew! It's Hot!

134°F in the Death Valley...125°F in Palm Springs...98°F at midnight; desert temperatures are notorious, but these numbers don't tell the whole tale. Official thermometers hang five feet above ground, where it is about 50°F cooler than it is on the ground. When the weatherman says 110°F, it is probably 160°F at foot level. There are records of ground surface temperatures as high as 190°F!

It isn't always so hot in the desert, but great heat is quite routine.
July's average at The Living Desert is 106°F, and it can be over 100°F every day for several months.
On a day when the relative humidity is 50%, 100°F feels like 120 and 110 feels like 150.

You can see such readings at the Underwood Weather Station, which records temperature and humidity above ground, at ground level, and underground at The Living Desert.
Nighttime temperatures may drop over 50°F from the day's high, say from 103°F to 49°F. Freezing is unusual and snow is common, especially in the mountains. Occasionally, snow blankets the desert floor.

An unusually severe freeze hit Living Desert on December 22, 1990. Temperatures dropped to 22°F- icicles hung from branches. Our gardens fared well or poorly, depending on which desert region they represented, and what the plants from that region could tolerate. Every plant in the African section suffered, while the Joshua trees and other Mojave Desert species glowed like a skier after a brisk day on the slopes.