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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, sometimes described as extreme heat, is a period of abnormally hot weather. Definitions vary but are similar. A heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in the area and to normal temperatures for the season. Temperatures that humans from a hotter climate consider normal, can be regarded as a heat wave in a cooler area. This would be the case if the warm temperatures are outside the normal climate pattern for that area. High humidity often occurs during heat waves as well. This is especially the case in oceanic climate countries. Heat waves have become more frequent, and more intense over land, across almost every area on Earth since the 1950s. Heat waves occur from climate change.
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 did not have air conditioning, or had air conditioning but could not afford to turn it on, 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 saw the hottest summer recorded 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. The death toll has been estimated at more than 70,000.
A period of unusually hot summer weather occurred in the British Isles during the summer of 1976. At the same time, there was a severe drought on the islands of Great Britain and Ireland. It was one of the driest, sunniest and warmest summers (June/July/August) in the 20th century, although the summer of 1995 is now regarded as the driest. Only a few places registered more than half their average summer rainfall. In the Central England temperature record, it was the warmest summer in the series until being surpassed in the 21st century. It was the warmest summer in the Aberdeen area since at least 1864, and the driest summer since 1868 in Glasgow.
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.
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 heatwave occurred across the British Isles in August and September 1906. 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 much of the UK. In September, Central England and Birmingham recorded a maximum temperature of 31.5 °C (88.7 °F), while Oxford recorded a maximum temperature of 33.1 °C (91.6 °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 July 29 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 cease until July 15. In Nashua, New Hampshire, the temperature peaked at 106 °F (41 °C). In New York City 158 people and 600 horses died.
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 people died 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 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 1901 eastern United States heat wave was the severest and deadliest 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.
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.
The 2021 Britain and Ireland heat wave was a period of unusually hot weather in July 2021 that led to record-breaking temperatures in the UK and Ireland.
In 2022, several areas of the world experienced heat waves. Heat waves were especially notable in East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Australia, western Europe, the United States, and southern South America. 2022 heat waves accounted for record-breaking temperatures and, in some regions, heat-related deaths. Heat waves were worsened by the effects of climate change, and they exacerbated droughts and wildfires.
The 2022 Japan heatwave was a heatwave that affected many prefectures. Temperatures peaked at 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) in Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture. 15,657 people were taken to hospital emergency departments, 5,261 of whom were admitted.
From June to August 2022, persistent heatwaves affected parts of Europe, causing evacuations and a confirmed death toll of 24,501. However, upper estimates suggested more than 61,000 heat-related deaths between 30 May and 4 September. These heat waves were the deadliest meteorological events in 2022. The highest temperature recorded was 47.0 °C (116.6 °F) in Pinhão, Portugal, on 14 July.
From late spring to late summer heat waves in 2022 smashed many records in North America between May and September of that year. Dozens of temperature records were surpassed in the United States.
In 2023, Europe has been affected by heat waves. The most significant of these so far has been the named heat wave, Cerberus Heatwave, which is expected to bring the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe. Starting on 10 July 2023, the record-breaking Cerberus anticyclone affected many European countries, with the effects felt most severely in parts of Southeast and Southwest Europe such as Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Spain. The private Italian weather website iLMeteo named the extreme weather event after the hound of Hades from Greek mythology, and although some reports link the naming to the Italian Meteorological Society, the society's president said that they "absolutely don’t use it".
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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