The name of the deceased motorcyclist, or other identifying information, was not released, and the specific cause of death will be determined by the coroner, Andler said.
“Yesterday it was 128 degrees, which was a record high for that day in Death Valley,” the ranger noted, “and these folks were traveling through on motorcycles, and most likely they didn’t have adequate cooling.”
Saturday’s temperature was just shy of the all-time heat record in Death Valley — 134 degrees, which was set on July 10, 1913. Since record-keeping began in 1911, temperatures have reached or exceeded 130 degrees only three times — with two of those times since 2020: Aug. 16, 2020, and again on July 9, 2021.
Each year, at least one to three people die of heat-related illnesses while visiting the park, and each week, there are one to three calls for medical assistance for heat-related stress.
