El Mirage Lake
| El Mirage Lake | |
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| Location | Mojave Desert San Bernardino County, California |
| Coordinates | 34°38′49″N 117°36′00″W / 34.6470°N 117.60001°WCoordinates: 34°38′49″N 117°36′00″W / 34.6470°N 117.60001°W |
| Lake type | Endorheic basin |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 10 km (6.2 mi) |
| Max. width | 3 km (1.9 mi) |
| Shore length1 | 25 km (16 mi) |
| Surface elevation | 865 m (2,838 ft) |
| References | U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: El Mirage Lake |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
El Mirage Lake is a dry lake bed in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California. The lake is located about 9 miles (14 km) west-northwest of the town of Adelanto and 10 mi (16 km) north of Highway 18 in San Bernardino County.
The dry lake, at an elevation of 2,840 ft (870 m), is approximately 6 mi (9.7 km) long. El Mirage Lake is part of the El Mirage Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) Recreation Area. It is a popular filming location for automobile commercials. Permits for the Recreation Area can be purchased on-site, at local retailers and online. Annual Permits are $90, weekly Permits are $30, and daily permits are $15.[1] Private aircraft may land on the lakebed.
For 50 years the lakebed has been used by the Southern California Timing Association for timed speed runs. The club also operates the Bonneville Salt Flats speed runs.
Contents |
In popular culture [edit]
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This section does not cite any references or sources. (September 2009) |
In the movie Lethal Weapon (1987), a scene in which officer Murtaugh (Danny Glover) tries to recover his kidnapped daughter was filmed at El Mirage. In addition to being a filming location, the unique flat terrain allowed the pilot of a Bell 206 Jetranger helicopter to perform a very difficult sideway landing at very low altitude and very high airspeed.
Shania Twain's music video for "That Don't Impress Me Much" was filmed at El Mirage, as was the 1997 Star Wars mockumentary, Troops.
The plane chase sequence from Metallica's I Disappear music video was filmed at El Mirage in 2000.
Parts of Maverick were filmed at this lake in 1994.
Josh Groban shot photos and music video frames for his album, "Awake", including "February Song" and "You Are Loved" here.
Shia LaBeouf's cover of a July issue of Vanity Fair was shot here.
The opening sequence of the TV show Knight Rider was filmed behind its Mountain Range.
El Mirage is often a filming location for movies and TV programs where high speed time trials are depicted. Examples of this are the jet car sequence from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension,[2] and a sequence in Herbie Fully Loaded.
El Mirage was featured in the second episode of Top Gear USA's first season.
The music video for 2Pac's California Love was filmed there as well as scenes in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
El Mirage was a filming location for Punishment Park.
Brad Paisley's Music Video for "Remind me" was filmed here.
Blush's music video for "Warrior" was also filmed here.
GM Eternal filmed a video at El Mirage Dry Lake bed. See www.gmeternal.com
The seventh episode of Bikini Destinations was filmed here featuring actress Kelly Monaco and Miss Texas Denton County Marianne Duckworth.
Climate [edit]
El Mirage Lakebed experiences a desert climate, with cool winters and hot summers. Due to the lakebed's aridity and altitude, the Diurnal temperature variation is substantial. Though summer days can be very hot, summer nighttime temperatures are cool. The lakebed receives an occasional dusting of snow in the winter months, however, snowfall usually melts within 24 hours.
| Climate data for El Mirage Lakebed, California | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 76 (24) |
82 (28) |
88 (31) |
96 (36) |
104 (40) |
110 (43) |
112 (44) |
108 (42) |
106 (41) |
98 (37) |
84 (29) |
80 (27) |
112 (44) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 56.8 (13.8) |
60.5 (15.8) |
65.4 (18.6) |
72.1 (22.3) |
80.9 (27.2) |
91.1 (32.8) |
97.7 (36.5) |
96.3 (35.7) |
89.3 (31.8) |
77.8 (25.4) |
65.2 (18.4) |
56.9 (13.8) |
75.83 (24.34) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 29.3 (−1.5) |
32.4 (0.2) |
36.4 (2.4) |
40.0 (4.4) |
47.7 (8.7) |
55.0 (12.8) |
60.3 (15.7) |
59.0 (15) |
53.5 (11.9) |
43.9 (6.6) |
34.2 (1.2) |
27.9 (−2.3) |
43.3 (6.26) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 3 (−16) |
5 (−15) |
18 (−8) |
23 (−5) |
29 (−2) |
32 (0) |
41 (5) |
41 (5) |
33 (1) |
14 (−10) |
14 (−10) |
1 (−17) |
1 (−17) |
| Precipitation inches (mm) | 1.14 (29) |
1.14 (29) |
0.92 (23.4) |
0.26 (6.6) |
0.21 (5.3) |
0.05 (1.3) |
0.16 (4.1) |
0.35 (8.9) |
0.28 (7.1) |
0.26 (6.6) |
0.31 (7.9) |
0.72 (18.3) |
5.81 (147.6) |
| [citation needed] | |||||||||||||
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- California Road & Recreation Atlas, 2005, pg. 104
