Dear Tom,
I don’t recall ever seeing Alaskan or Hawaiian cities listed among the nation’s daily hottest or coldest places, or Death Valley in California for that matter. Can that be correct?
Charles Burt, Streator, Ill.
Dear Charles,
The National Weather Service (which provides the daily listing of the national temperature extremes) has established strict eligibility guidelines. Here are the rules: Only locations in the contiguous 48 states are considered (thus omitting Alaska and Hawaii), the site must lie at an elevation below 8,500 feet (lofty mountain are exempted) and the report must come from an area with a population of 1,000 or more.
However, if the temperature in a sparsely populated location (like Death Valley) tops 120(degrees), the population requirement will be waived.
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Tom Skilling is chief meteorologist at WGN-TV. His forecasts can be seen Monday through Friday on WGN-TV News at noon and 9 p.m.
WGN-TV meteorologists Steve Kahn, Richard Koeneman and Paul Dailey plus weather producer Bill Snyder contribute to this page.
