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Hyperthermia, also known simply as overheating, is a condition in which an individual's body temperature is elevated beyond normal due to failed thermoregulation. The person's body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. When extreme temperature elevation occurs, it becomes a medical emergency requiring immediate treatment to prevent disability or death. Almost half a million deaths are recorded every year from hyperthermia.
A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual weather in the area and relative to normal temperatures for the season. Temperatures that people from a hotter climate consider normal can be called a heat wave in a cooler area if they are outside the normal climate pattern for that area.
The July 1995 Chicago heat wave led to 739 heat-related deaths in Chicago over a period of five days. Most of the victims of the heat wave were elderly poor residents of the city, who could not afford air conditioning and did not open windows or sleep outside for fear of crime. The heat wave also heavily impacted the wider Midwestern region, with additional deaths in both St. Louis, Missouri and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The 2003 European heat wave led to what was, at the time, the hottest summer on record in Europe since at least 1540. France was hit especially hard. The heat wave led to health crises in several countries and combined with drought to create a crop shortfall in parts of Southern Europe. Peer-reviewed analysis places the European death toll at more than 70,000.
The Summer 2006 North American heat wave was a severe heat wave that affected most of the United States and Canada, killing at least 225 people and bringing extreme heat to many locations. At least three died in Philadelphia, Arkansas, and Indiana. In Maryland, the state health officials reported that three people died of heat-related causes. Another heat related death was suspected in Chicago.
A cooling center is an air-conditioned public space set up by local authorities to temporarily deal with the health effects of a heat wave. Cooling centers are meant to prevent hyperthermia caused by heat, humidity, and poor air quality. Cooling centers provide shade, water, and restrooms; medical attention and referrals to social services may also be offered. Their services are aimed at the homeless, at-risk populations such as the elderly, and those without air conditioning.
Launceston, Tasmania has a cool, temperate climate, with four distinct seasons. The city is located in the Tamar Valley in Northern Tasmania and is surrounded by many large hills and mountains. With this type of topography, Launceston's weather patterns can change considerably in a short period.
The 1906 British Isles heat wave occurred across the British Isles in the months of August and September. The heat wave had a comparable intensity to the 1990 heat wave. From 31 August to 3 September, the temperature in the UK exceeded 32 °C (90 °F) consecutively over most of the UK on these four days. In September, CET Central England and Birmingham recorded a highest temperature of 31.5 °C (88.7 °F), and Oxford recorded a highest temperature of 33.1 °C (91.6 °F), the Oxford high surpassed in 1911 with a temperature of 33.4 °C (92.1 °F).
The 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves included severe heat waves that impacted most of the United States, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong, North Africa and the European continent as a whole, along with parts of Canada, Russia, Indochina, South Korea and Japan during May, June, July, and August 2010. The first phase of the global heatwaves was caused by a moderate El Niño event, which lasted from June 2009 to May 2010. The first phase lasted only from April 2010 to June 2010, and caused only moderate above average temperatures in the areas affected. But it also set new record high temperatures for most of the area affected, in the Northern Hemisphere. The second phase was caused by a very strong La Niña event, which lasted from June 2010 to June 2011. According to meteorologists, the 2010–11 La Niña event was one of the strongest La Niña events ever observed. That same La Niña event also had devastating effects in the Eastern states of Australia. The second phase lasted from June 2010 to October 2010, caused severe heat waves, and multiple record-breaking temperatures. The heatwaves began in April 2010, when strong anticyclones began to develop, over most of the affected regions, in the Northern Hemisphere. The heatwaves ended in October 2010, when the powerful anticyclones over most of the affected areas dissipated.
The 1911 Eastern North America heat wave was an 11-day severe heat wave that killed at least 380 people though estimates have put the death toll as high as 2,000 people. The heat wave began on July 4, 1911 and didn't end until July 15. In Nashua, New Hampshire, the temperature peaked at 106 °F (41 °C). In New York City alone, 158 people and 600 horses died.
The 2011 North American heat wave was a deadly summer 2011 heat wave that affected the Southern Plains, the Midwestern United States, Eastern Canada, the Northeastern United States, and much of the Eastern Seaboard, and had Heat index/Humidex readings reaching upwards of 131 °F (55 °C). On a national basis, the heat wave was the hottest in 75 years.
The Summer 2012 North American heat wave was one of the most severe heat waves in modern North American history. It resulted in more than 82 heat-related deaths across the United States and Canada, and an additional twenty-two lives were lost in the resultant June 2012 North American derecho. This long-lived, straight-line wind and its thunderstorms cut electrical power to 3.7 million customers. Over 500,000 were still without power on July 6, as the heat wave continued. Temperatures generally decreased somewhat the week of July 9 in the east, but the high pressure shifted to the west, causing the core of the hot weather to the build in the Mountain States and the Southwestern United States shifting eastwards again by mid-July. By early August, the core of the heat remained over the Southern Plains.
The Australian summer of 2012–2013, known as the Angry Summer or Extreme Summer, resulted in 123 weather records being broken over a 90-day period, including the hottest day ever recorded for January on record, the hottest summer average on record, and a record seven days in a row when the whole country averaged above 39 °C (102 °F). Single-day temperature records were broken in dozens of towns and cities, as well as single-day rainfall records, and several rivers flooded to new record highs.
The 1901 eastern United States heat wave was the most severe and deadly heat wave in the United States prior to the 1930s Dust Bowl. Although the heat wave did not set many still-standing daily temperature records, it was exceptionally prolonged – covering without interruption the second half of June and all of July – and centered upon more highly populated areas than later American heat waves. The heat wave accompanied a major drought in the Ohio Valley and Upper Midwest, with Illinois recording what remains its driest calendar year since records have been kept, and Missouri receiving only 0.21 inches (5.3 mm) above its driest calendar year of 1953.
The 2018 Britain and Ireland heat wave was a period of unusually hot weather that took place in June, July and August. It caused widespread drought, hosepipe bans, crop failures, and a number of wildfires. These wildfires worst affected northern moorland areas around the Greater Manchester region, the largest was at Saddleworth Moor and another was at Winter Hill, together these burned over 14 square miles (36 km2) of land over a period of nearly a month.
From mid-May to mid-June 2019, India and Pakistan had a severe heat wave. It was one of the hottest and longest heat waves since the two countries began recording weather reports. The highest temperatures occurred in Churu, Rajasthan, reaching up to 50.8 °C (123.4 °F), a near record high in India, missing the record of 51.0 °C (123.8 °F) set in 2016 by a fraction of a degree. As of 12 June 2019, 32 days are classified as parts of the heatwave, making it the second longest ever recorded.
In late June and late July 2019 there were two temporally distinct European heat waves, which set all-time high temperature records in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
An extreme heat wave affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. Rapid attribution analysis found this was a 1000-year weather event, made 150 times more likely by climate change. The heat wave affected Northern California, Idaho, Western Nevada, Oregon, and Washington in the United States, as well as British Columbia, and, in its latter phase, Alberta, Manitoba, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and Yukon, all in Canada. It also affected inland regions of Central and Southern California, Northwestern and Southern Nevada and parts of Montana, though the temperature anomalies were not as extreme as in the regions farther north.
The 2021 Britain and Ireland heat wave was a period of unusually hot weather that led to record-breaking temperatures in the UK and Ireland.
References
- ↑ George, Thomas (August 2, 2001). "PRO FOOTBALL: Heat Kills a Pro Football Player; N.F.L. Orders a Training Review". The New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2018.
- ↑ "Deaths of 4 New Yorkers Are Attributed to the Heat". The New York Times. August 13, 2001.
Four New Yorkers died of hyperthermia on Friday in what the city medical examiner's office yesterday described as the first heat-related deaths reported in the city this year. All of the victims had a history of heart disease and hypertension, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the examiner's office. Officials did not release the names of the victims. But they said that three were Manhattan residents: two women, 80 and 76, and a 57-year-old man. The fourth, an 82-year-old woman, was from Brooklyn. Ms. Borakove said that two other deaths were being investigated.
- ↑ "Swath of U.S. Sweats Out Another Heat Wave". The New York Times. August 4, 2001.
Elsewhere in the state, temperatures in the 80's felt relatively cool in Chicago, which has had 21 heat-related deaths this year, a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office said. Chicago officials declared the second of two heat emergency warnings this year on Wednesday and opened more than 100 cooling centers where residents could go for relief.
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