In July, typical afternoon highs at Death Valley (Badwater) run around 108°F (seriously hot). Mid-afternoon sun stands about 59° high, and the sun is up from 5:41 AM to 8:05 PM. Shade depends on terrain and tree cover; open viewpoints are fully exposed.
See live sun & real shadows here →| January | 67°F |
| February | 75°F |
| March | 78°F |
| April | 87°F |
| May | 97°F |
| June | 106°F |
| July | 108°F |
| August | 107°F |
| September | 98°F |
| October | 87°F |
| November | 75°F |
| December | 69°F |
Shade depends on terrain and tree cover; open viewpoints are fully exposed. See real building shadows over satellite imagery for any time of day: https://isthereshade.com/?anywhere&at=36.45,-116.85
Around 8:05 PM local time in mid-July (it shifts through the year). Sunrise is about 5:41 AM.
Death Valley (Badwater) · Death Valley, CA. Data: exact sun position; climate normals from historical weather; live forecast on the interactive view.
108°F. That is the average afternoon high at Badwater Basin in high summer, and it is the only number that matters when you plan a visit. Death Valley's salt flat is the lowest, hottest, most exposed ground in North America, and there is no shade on it at all. Everything below is about managing that heat, because at Badwater the heat is not a footnote, it is the whole story.
There is nothing gentle about a July afternoon here. The basin sits well below sea level, ringed by bare rock that stores and radiates heat, and the white salt underfoot bounces the sun straight back up at you. Afternoon highs average 108°F and regularly run higher, and the ground temperature is hotter still. This is genuinely dangerous heat, the kind that turns a casual walk into an emergency faster than most people expect.
Treat it accordingly:
Badwater is open salt and open sky. No trees, no structures, no relief anywhere on the basin floor. The only shade you will find is what you bring or the interior of your vehicle, so the entire strategy is when you go, not where you stand.
The sun is up from about 5:41 AM to 8:05 PM in July, and the safest hours are the earliest. Early morning, before the basin has fully heated and while the eastern ridges still throw long shadows across part of the flat, is the one forgiving window. By mid-afternoon the sun sits about 59 degrees up and comes from the west-southwest, high enough that the surrounding mountains offer no cover out on the salt. Late in the day the western wall of the valley eventually shades the basin floor, but the air stays brutally hot long after the direct sun is gone.
To see how the valley walls throw shadow across the basin through the day, the satellite shadow view shows the terrain from above.
If your dates are open, do not come in July at all. Death Valley is a winter and shoulder-season destination. December and January afternoons average in the upper 60s, and even March sits around 78°F, temperatures that let you actually walk out onto the salt and take it in. The contrast is enormous: the same basin that averages 108°F in July is a comfortable stroll in the cool months.
If summer is your only option, go at dawn, keep it brief, stay near the car, and carry water like your safety depends on it, because at Badwater it does. This is one landmark where the honest advice is to respect the heat completely and let the calendar, not the clock, do most of the work.