Mojave Desert
The high desert, and the lowest, hottest point in the hemisphere inside it.
A basin-and-range desert mostly between 2,000 and 4,000 feet, which makes it genuinely cold in winter as well as brutally hot in summer. Death Valley sits in its northern half: 282 feet below sea level, walled by ranges that block any marine influence, with air that compresses as it sinks and then recirculates against the valley walls instead of escaping. Furnace Creek averages about 117°F in July and holds the highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth. Telescope Peak, snow-covered in winter, stands 11,000 feet directly above it.
- Elevation range
- 282 ft below sea level → 11,049 ftHigh point: Telescope Peak
- Relief
- 11,331 ftTop to bottom, inside this region
- Span
- 263 × 221 miEast–west by north–south
- Annual rainfall
- 2–8″Driest to wettest ground here
- Köppen types
- BWhBWkBSk4 counties
Map of Mojave Desert within California.
The four seasons here
NOT A GENERIC SEASON WITH THE PLACE NAME SWAPPED INWinter
Cool to cold, and the wetter half of the year — but 'wetter' means an inch or two.
Spring
Windy, warming fast, and the wildflower season when the winter has been wet enough.
Summer
The most extreme heat in the Western Hemisphere, with monsoon thunderstorms and flash floods from July.
Autumn
Rapid cooling through October into some of the most pleasant weather anywhere.
Places in this region
4 PLACES, LOWEST FIRST| Place | Elevation | Jan high | Jan low | Jul high | Jul low | Annual precip | Snow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Furnace Creek | -190 | 67° | 42° | 117° | 91° | 2.2″ | — |
| Needles | 495 | 66° | 46° | 110° | 87° | 4.3″ | — |
| Barstow | 2,175 | 59° | 35° | 102° | 72° | 5.0″ | — |
| Lancaster | 2,350 | 59° | 31° | 98° | 67° | 6.8″ | — |
National Parks in this weather region
FIELD NOTES FROM THE PARK TRANSECTTerrain and gradients
WHAT THE ELEVATION ACTUALLY DOESRanges and passes
A PASS IS A WIND FEATURE FIRSTWho forecasts it
OFFICIAL FORECASTS AND WARNINGS COME FROM HEREGolden State Weather is not a source of watches or warnings. For those, go to the offices above.