California’s Death Valley is the hottest place in the world and the driest place in North America. But two months after Hurricane Hilary’s epic rainfall, parts of the national park look more oasis than desert. Parched ground turned to ponds, wildflowers are in bloom in remote areas and a salt flat is now a massive lake. The salt flat-turned-lake is an exceptional but fleeting sight to behold. … It’s all because Hilary unloaded a year’s worth of rain, 2.2 inches, on Death Valley in just 24 hours on August 20 – the wettest day in the park’s history. Until then, the park had never recorded more than 2 inches of rainfall in a single day, according to records that date to 1911.