Heat wave's deadly impact grows

According to Axios, a prolonged heat wave has killed at least two dozen people across the United States over the past week, with roughly forty million people under heat alerts on Sunday. Officials in New Jersey reported twenty-two heat-related deaths over the weekend as a sprawling heat dome settled over much of the eastern U.S., along with one death each in Cook County, Illinois, and Hinds County, Mississippi. Daily record highs were set or tied at dozens of sites over the Independence Day weekend — Reagan National Airport near Washington reached one hundred three degrees on July fourth. Axios notes that extreme heat is the nation's deadliest weather hazard, and that studies link longer, hotter, more frequent heat waves to human-caused climate change. The National Weather Service says the oppressive heat will slowly contract this week, though above-normal temperatures and high humidity will keep the risk of heat illness elevated across the Southeast.

Listen to this story

Hear this and more stories in a personalized audio briefing.

Open The Chonkerton