Is Death Valley going for the heat record this weekend?

German father and daughter at Badwater in Death Valley in 2006. Guy McCarthy photo

A Corona meteorologist and blogger is heading into Death Valley National Park for this weekend's heat siege, betting on the come that the temperature will set a new world record. Death Valley, you may remember, has been certified as the place with the highest recorded temperature anywhere in the world, 134 degrees back in 1913. Kevin Martin will be there on Sunday in case some new history is made. The official forecast for Furnace Creek is "about 130 degrees."

Guy McCarthy talked to him for Banning-Beaumont Patch:

Martin believes the record could be eclipsed this weekend, and he hopes to be there to record it. He plans to visit both Furnace Creek, where the National Weather Service has instruments, and Badwater Basin, because he believes Badwater Basin is hotter.

"I'm convinced Badwater Basin is 2 degrees hotter because of the elevation," Martin told Banning-Beaumont Patch in a phone interview Friday. "When it was 134 in Furnace Creek I believe it was 136 in Badwater Basin.

"Like the Coachella Valley, the lower areas like Indio are much hotter than Palm Springs."

The ridge of high pressure expected to bring high temperatures will be further east on Saturday, Martin said, and he expects the hottest temperature readings of the weekend in Death Valley will occur Sunday.

Martin said he's taking his mom, Carolyn Martin, 63, of Hesperia, because she found out about his trip and asked to go along. Martin said they're going to take her car, a relatively new Honda Accord, which has working air conditioning and good tires.

Death Valley park officials are planning a World Record Heat 100th Anniversary event on July 10. Martin's sites are The Weather Space and the Southern California Weather Authority.