Summer Begins - June 21

Posted at 8:24 PM, Jun. 20, 2007

With the tempatures in Las Vegas already hitting close to the 110 mark it's hard to believe that summer is JUST beginning.  Here's some interesting pieces of trivia for you:

• Furnace Creek in Death Valley CA holds the record for highest recorded temperature ever measured in the U.S. - July 10, 1913 - a sizzling 134 degrees!
• To beat the desert heat, the ancient Egyptians circulated water through the walls of homes to cool them, and ancient Persians cooled buildings using wind and pools of water.
• The 'year without summer" occured in 1816  when the northeastern  U.S. and Canada experienced snow and cold through most of the summer. An erupting volcano in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) was probably the cause of this.
• Average number of days per year the therometer breaks 110 F in Las Vegas is 9
• Hottest summer on record in Las Vegas had 29 days of 110+ temps (but I can't remember which year)