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Hotest days on record, new mask-wearing requirements.

Congress has hearings on park crowding, lightning strikes several visitors to the Grand

Canyon and a whole slew of terrible park visitors.

It's time for the latest in National Parks Podcast. I'm Jason Epperson and each month we set aside one

episode to share with you the latest news and happenings in our nation's treasures. And

fair warning for this month it's full of absolutely terrible park visitors.

But we start off hot this episode. Record breaking hot.

On July 11th a weather station at Stove Pipe Wells in Death Valley National Park recorded an average temperature, average, meaning all day and night, of 118.1 degrees Fahrenheit.

That's the highest average daily temperature observed on Earth.

Two days earlier, Furnace Creek saw a high of 130 degrees Fahrenheit, a tie with the hottest reliably recorded temperature on Earth

set first last August. Over the years, the record temperature of 134 degrees set in 1931 has been under scrutiny as questions about

surrounding the meteorological conditions and the equipment used to

take the readings. Both the 2020 and 2021 records will be reviewed by the World Meteorological Association before they're considered official.

New guidance from the CDC on mask wearing will have masks again required indoors at many

National Park Service facilities and buildings operated by other

federal land agencies across the country even by people who are vaccinated.

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