California's Death Valley records 129 degrees

As scorching weather grilled west and southwest parts of the United States on Wednesday, temperatures in California's Death Valley, famed for its record-breaking heat, reached 129 degrees Fahrenheit (54 degrees Celsius) for the first time this year.

Bryan Wood reports.

The first heat wave of the summer grilled America's southwest this week but temperatures at its most infamous stretch of desert hit even more suffocating highs.

California’s Death Valley National Park recorded 129 degrees on Thursday- nearly 54 degrees Celsius.

That's the hottest it’s been this year and according to the park's spokesperson Abby Wines, this is just the start.

"This is early to have this much of a heatwave.

It's happened before, but it's not that common.

I would expect in a normal summer for this to just be the beginning because we usually have temperatures in July that hit 125 or higher.

That happens every single summer.” Death Valley Village resident, Willo Alford, has lived here most of her life and runs a general store in town.

She says it’s hard living in an extreme climate and that she'll never get used to it.

"I think every year it's hard.

Up to a certain temperature it's okay, like maybe 120, but once it gets above that is when it really gets hard." This week isn't the hottest its ever been in the area.

That would be back in 1913, when the mercury hit a scorching 134 degrees.