National Weather Service Heat Safety

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National Weather Service Heat Safety

www.nws.noaa.gov

Heat: A Major Killer

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• NOAA's Watch, Warning, and Advisory Products for Extreme Heat
• Heat Index Information
• Heat Hazards
• How Fast Can the Sun Heat A Car?
• Heat Safety
• Heat Disorder Symptoms

Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States, resulting in hundreds of
fatalities each year. In fact, on average, excessive heat claims more lives each year than floods, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes combined. In the disastrous heat wave of 1980, more than 1,250 people died. In the heat wave of 1995 more than 700 deaths in the Chicago area were attributed to heat. In August 2003, a record heat wave in Europe claimed an estimated 50,000 lives.
North American summers are hot; most summers see heat waves in one or more parts of the United States. East of the Rockies, they tend to combine both high temperature and high humidity, although some of the worst heat waves have been catastrophically dry.

NOAA's Watch, Warning, and Advisory Products for Extreme Heat