I was in Death Valley the last two weeks of
January, '00.
    http://jones.colorado.edu/jones/DV/
The temps in the bottom--Furnace Creek--were
delightful.  At higher elevations such as
Racetrack Valley, etc, the days were nice
and the nights cool.  The backcountry would
have been perfect--almost nobody there--except
for the military jets flying low constantly
during the middle of the days.

That year had been dry; the storm while I was
there put the first snows on Telescope Peak.

                        Richard A Jones
                        Boulder, Colorado