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. 

—o0o—