What does fifty-four degrees mean?

Answer 1

I don't know any other meaning apart from the literal meaning.

A degree is a graduated measurement used in geometry (360 degrees in a circle) and as a scale in temperature readings.

Fifty-four degrees in geometry is a bit bigger than half a right angle.

In temperature 54 degrees in the Centigrade scale (Celsius) is very hot indeed. In the desert, you would dehydrate and die fairly quickly.