Death Valley National Park is known for being… well, dead. The sandy dunes of the valley are still one of the most well-known attractions in California, and lately, Death Valley’s heat levels have been reaching some extraordinary peaks. In fact, it was so hot there recently that one tourist actually suffered third-degree burns on his feet just from walking around.
Mind you, there’s a bit more to the story than the tourist just waltzing through the valley fully dressed. At the time, the air temperature was estimated to be around 123 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Park Service. The ground, then, would have been much, much hotter.
What made the burns so bad, though, was the fact that Death Valley’s heat levels were so high. He also somehow lost his flip-flops while walking across the sand dunes in the valley. The ground temperature in Death Valley has been known to rise upwards of 170 to 180 degrees—and it can even get as high as 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
Image source: David Toussaint / Getty
Park rangers say that the man’s skin had literally melted off his foot, presenting him with painful third-degree burns. The man’s family was luckily around and able to call for help—which came in the form of paramedics in a nearby parking lot. The man suffered what officials called “full-thickness” burns on his feet.
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He was in significant pain by the time he was extracted from the area. Unfortunately, due to the heat in the area, a helicopter was unable to fly in and safely land within the area, so a ground ambulance had to rush the man to a slightly cooler location, where he was then flown to a Las Vegas hospital.
If you’re planning to visit Death Valley this year, be sure to keep the valley’s heat levels in mind. As climate change continues to ravage our planet, these extremely hot places only experience higher heat indexes, and those can cause serious damage to your body.
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