What are the hottest (coldest) place in the United States? What factors cause these extreme conditions at these locations?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER: Student answers should state that on July 10, 1913, Greenland Ranch in Death Valley, California, the highest temperature ever reliably observed in the world was 57 degrees Celsius (134 degrees Fahrenheit). Here, air temperatures are persistently hot throughout the summer, with the average maximum for July being 47 degrees Celsiu1221s (116 degrees Fahrenheit). During the summer of 1917, there was an incredible period of 43 consecutive days when the maximum temperature reached 120 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. One of the hottest urban areas in the United States is Palm Springs, California, where the average high temperature during July is 108 degrees Fahrenheit. Another hot city is Yuma, Arizona. Located along the California-Arizona border, Yuma's high temperature during July also averages 108 degrees Fahrenheit. In 1937, the high in Yuma reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit or more for 101 consecutive days. In a more humid climate, the maximum temperature rarely climbs above 41degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit). However, during the record heat wave of 1936, the air temperature reached 121 degrees Fahrenheit near Alton, Kansas. And during the heat wave of 1983, which destroyed about $7 billion in crops and increased the nation's air-conditioning bill by an estimated $1 billion, Fayetteville reported North Carolina's all-time record high temperature when the mercury hit 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
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One city in the United States that experiences very low temperatures is International Falls, Minnesota, where the average temperature for January is –16 degrees Celsius (3 degrees Fahrenheit). Located several hundred miles to the south of International Falls, Minneapolis–St. Paul is the coldest major urban area in the nation, with an average temperature of –9 degrees Celsius (16 degrees Fahrenheit) for January. For duration of extreme cold, Minneapolis reported 186 consecutive hours of temperatures below 0 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter of 1911–1912. Within the forty-eight adjacent states, however, the record for the longest duration of severe cold belongs to Langdon, North Dakota, where the thermometer remained below 0 degrees Fahrenheit for 41 consecutive days during the winter of 1936.
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The most extensive cold wave in the United States occurred in February 1899. Temperatures during this cold spell fell below 0 degrees Fahrenheit in every existing state, including Florida. This extreme cold event was the first and only of its kind in recorded history. Record temperatures set during this extremely cold outbreak still stand today in many cities of the United States. The official record for the lowest temperature in the forty-eight adjacent states belongs to Rogers Pass, Montana, where on the morning of January 20, 1954 the mercury dropped to –57 degrees Celsius (–70 degrees Fahrenheit). The lowest official temperature for Alaska, –62 degrees Celsius (–80 degrees Fahrenheit), occurred at Prospect Creek on January 23, 1971.?