Death Valley hit 130 degrees on Sunday; fire tornadoes reported in northern California

The highest temperature recorded on Earth occurred in July of 1913 in Death Valley, California. On that day, the mercury allegedly reached 134 degrees.

On Sunday, temperatures got within 4 degrees of that record, as extreme heat has taken over much of the Desert Southwest and California.

Sunday’s reading is the highest temperature recorded on the planet since the 1913 reading. In 2013, Death Valley reported a temperature of 129 degrees. In fact, multiple records were broken across California. The heat has resulted in energy shortages, resulting in rolling blackouts.

While the heat raged, a severe thunderstorm was reported in San Francisco over the weekend. It was the first severe storm warning there since 2005. Unfortunately, it is believed that lightning from the storms, along with downed power lines are what helped to spark multiple small fires across northern California.

Fires continue to burn across Southern California, and a massive wildfire in Northern California spawned a fire tornado.

Fire tornadoes are rare rotating columns of air, formed by extreme heat and turbulent winds within towering pyrocumulus clouds.

On Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued an unprecedented tornado warning for a “fire-induced tornado” in Lassen County. Winds of potentially 60 mph were felt near the fire tornado.