Posted on 07/14/2026 3:16:53 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
[Heat kills more Americans than hurricanes. Federal disaster law has never once applied to it.]
With more than 200 million Americans currently under heat alerts as a potentially historic heat dome blankets the eastern two-thirds of the country heading into the July 4 weekend, a growing body of research makes one thing clear: extreme heat is the most lethal form of extreme weather in the United States — and the federal government has no disaster infrastructure built to fight it.
Heat-related fatalities in the U.S. have nearly doubled over the past 25 years, rising from approximately 1,069 in 1999 to 2,394 in 2024, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making 2024 the second-deadliest year for heat on record. The previous year was the worst on record: 2,325 deaths, a figure confirmed by a 2024 JAMA study that also found heat deaths were accelerating at 16.8 percent per year between 2016 and 2023. Despite that toll, extreme heat has never received a federal major disaster declaration under the Stafford Act, meaning FEMA cannot deploy its full toolkit — including individual assistance for cooling costs, medical expenses, or housing — even as heat kills more people annually than floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined.
"We have always had heat waves in the summer. That's a normal part of our weather," Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist at the Nature Conservancy, told NPR this week. "But as climate changes, as the planet warms decade by decade by decade, our heat waves are getting longer and stronger, more intense and more dangerous."
The National Weather Service described the current heat dome as carrying "dangerous to record-setting heat" expected to expand across the eastern two-thirds of the country. Heat index readings of 105 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit are forecast for wide areas, and overnight lows are expected to remain above 75 to 80 degrees — high enough to prevent the body from recovering from daytime heat stress, a pattern that researchers identify as especially lethal during multi-day events.
Heat Season Has Grown by Six Weeks Since the 1960s
The numbers researchers cite are not fluctuations. In major U.S. cities, extreme heat events have surged from roughly two per year in the 1960s to six or more per year in recent years. The heat-wave season itself has stretched by approximately 46 days since the 1960s. Climate scientists are unambiguous about the cause.
"Make no mistake, the primary driver for the uptick in deadly heat waves across the world is the burning of fossil fuels, given that a modest baseline warming drives an exponential increase in extreme heat," Brown University climate scientist Kim Cobb said this week. The current event is being further amplified by an El Nino pattern that climate scientists say is unusually large for this early in the year.
Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University's Nicholas Institute, put the mechanism plainly: "The baseline is warmer. So, when a heat dome or a high-pressure system sets up, it's now starting from a hotter floor."
A heat dome forms when a mass of high-pressure air parks over a region and acts like a lid on a pot. Hot surface air is forced downward, compressing and heating further, while cloud formation and rainfall are suppressed. The longer the dome persists, the more the ground heats up and radiates additional warmth back into the air. Combined with high humidity — which slows the evaporation of sweat that the body depends on for cooling — the result is a physiological emergency at the population level.
Expand your garden! Plant more tomatoes and peppers. Life IS Good!
More Blah-Blah-Blah: 'We're All Gonna Die' at the link...
I could have sworn that extreme cold was statistically more dangerous than extreme heat.
It hit 103°F in NYC on 3 July 1966.
It hit 106°F in NYC on 9 July 1936.
Today’s peak temp in Manhattan: 94°F.
“...extreme heat has never received a federal major disaster declaration under the Stafford Act, meaning FEMA cannot deploy its full toolkit — including individual assistance for cooling costs, medical expenses, or housing — even as heat kills more people annually than floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined.”
Global Warmsters Saddened Not to be Allowed to Waste More Tax Dollars!
“...heat kills more people annually than floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined.”
Really? Can that possibly be true?
Heat deaths also include athletes and out of shape people who die from overheating during activity.
Several American states experience 100 degree temps for long periods of time... So why isn’t America seeing ‘thousands’ of deaths like they do in France and the UK?
And, yet, the left wants to get rid of air conditioners...
What are they talking about?
Just emotional argument. No temp numbers. Nothing No region. No ages. They don’t define terms. I’ve done more research in an undergrad report
In Texas it’s been cloudy every day. High temp is 85 today. Mid July
The AC has been off for days. Never saw anything like it
200 million people gonna die? That’ll open up the freeway.
“ And, yet, the left wants to get rid of air conditioners...”
No natural gas in NY. That’s heat producing appliances drawing electricity instead of gas. They’re so idiotic
I just checked - it’s 116 degrees in my greenhouse with all doors and vents open.
It’s pretty much worthless to me by the end of May, but it’s lovely to get the jump on things in early spring and will be lovely again to extend the growing season once we cool back down.
89 degrees is the outdoor temp right now. It’s not as humid as they were predicting, but there is also no breeze, so that makes it tough if you have to work outdoors.
I buzz through outside & barn chores before 10am these days. I love my AC! :)
“Heat Deaths Near Record as 200 Million Americans Face No Federal Disaster Safety Net (Climate Change Hysteria)” The climate sure did change here in KS, cloudy and rainy to sunny and warm.
Huh. Has the media even inflated death counts to reinforce a progressive (regressive) narrative? Well, maybe covid related deaths but whose counting. The solution, of course, is to turn off your AC! That’ll reduce AGW and save the glaciers.
We lose a few ‘Old Guys’ to snow shoveling in the snowy winters around here. ;)
Beau does the plowing and I do the seven landings up to the house. I’m no longer the athlete I once was - I take it slow with plenty of Hot Cocoa Breaks thrown in there. If it’s below Zero and I still need to shovel, there’s always Schnaaps to warm you up, LOL!
I sure am glad we didn’t have hot summers when I was a kid.
Back then: ‘Cooler Than Normal Summers - Popsicle Manufacturers Hit Hardest!’
Which reminds me - we’re out of Popsicles! ;)
Summer is a federal disaster?
Yah, but in ‘merica we’ve got air conditioning.🤔
The Greenhouse Effect is alive and well in your greenhouse !
Ok, Ok. Just tell me how much money I need to pay to make it all better, komrade.
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