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.
what exactly would a hot summer Federal “disaster safety net” do, anyway? ... free air conditioners for all illegal aliens?
I detect a trend here. Hysterical females all.
If you think the summer is bad without AC, just wait till you see a winter without heat.
Annually, the vast majority of temperature-related deaths in the U.S. stem from cold exposure rather than heat, with over 45,000 such deaths recorded between 1999 and 2024
I lived in florida for years and now I don’t turn on my air conditioner until it’s about 90 outside. friend had to come today to show me how to turn it on.
That’s not what it says...
What’s so confusing, is how have humans survived all of the 103+F days before now? Hell, AC has only been around since the 1940s and became common in the 1960s. How did we survive? I’m so confused.
What are you complaining about? Wisconsin is a summer destination for many. Nobody knows heat like Florida fisherman, roofers, crop pickers, landscapers, and high school summer practicing football players in helmets and pads. Smart Floridians get their kids into ice hockey.
Well, for one thing, people live longer, even with diseases that make them more susceptible to heat.
Stop slinging facts around, you racist! It muddies the message!
More “recency bias” — whereby recent data seems outrageous though no or little prior data exists.
Quick example: our family maid died in a heat wave of the early 1970s from carbon monoxide poisoning while cooling off in a car w/ the A/C. There were probably many such deaths during that time that have no corresponding category today.
We actually found that even though our house was not constructed for pre-airconditioning comfort, several large diameter DC motor fans generated enough airflow through the entire house to keep everyone very comfortable through the high heat, humidity, mosquito season.
So. They outlaw air conditioning and then ring the alarm about heat deaths.
Shhhhhhhhhh! 😊👍🇺🇸
That’s why no-one lives in the Phoenix metro area. It’s too hot! 100+ temps for six months out of the year. /s
New Hampshire has two seasons: winter and getting ready for winter.
Southern Arizona has summer and getting ready for summer. You don’t need to stack wood for the summer, though. More like topping off the refrigerant in your AC systems.
Now, that’s the spirit! (Literally.)
Anyway, I’m going to venture that the increase in heat deaths is mainly due to:
More people live in cities, which tends to create many more people in city “heat islands”.
More people live in cities, which tends to create many more IDIOTS. (If you live in a city and the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear it.)
In general, we have a much fatter*, less fit population, and a huge percentage less of people not acclimated to working in summer heat.
*Heavier body weights to surface areas (ratio) is a real thing, helpful in winter, but the opposite in summer.
“what exactly would a hot summer Federal “disaster safety net” do, anyway? ... free air conditioners for all illegal aliens?”
Correct, but ONLY for illegals. US citizens would be encouraged to die. It’s only fair.
Didn’t the very same thing happen last year about this time?
It could well be. We really, for such a large country with particularly violent weather patterns largely determined by our unique geography, don't lose very many people to floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined. Things have changed a LOT when it comes to warnings and so on, since, say, the Great Tri-State Tornado, which killed almost 700 people in one pass.
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