All This Is That: Tall Things, Part 8: The world's tallest thermometer

Friday, February 24, 2012

Tall Things, Part 8: The world's tallest thermometer

By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor

The world's tallest thermometer is located in Baker, California, in the Mojave Desert.

Actually, calling it a thermometer is a misnomer. It doesn't have fifty gallons of mercury in a glass tube. It is an electric sign, posting readings from an analog thermometer, but just a little taller than the ones you see outside of banks and shopping malls.

The sign is 134 feet tall, in tribute to a record 134 degrees Fahrenheit recorded in adjacent Death Valley in 1913. The "thermometer" weighs 38 tons and is held together by 125 cubic yards of concrete. It can display a maximum temperature of, duh, 134 degrees.

The thermometer is planted right next to a Bob's Big Boy restaurant. You can see it from Interstate 15 in the Mojave.

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