New tool HeatRisk looks to cool down US skyrocketing heat-related deaths

After the planet’s warmest year on record and a record number of heat-related deaths in 2023 for some cities across the nation, U.S.agencies developed a tool to combat heat exposure that anyone with a computer or smartphone can access.NOAA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention partnered to address the skyrocketing number of heat-related deaths each year.

The result is called HeatRisk.“Climate change is causing more frequent and intense heat waves that are longer in duration, resulting in nearly 1,220 deaths each year in the U.S.alone,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad in a statement.

“Last year was the warmest year on record for the globe, and we just experienced the warmest winter on record.HeatRisk is arriving just in time to help everyone, including heat-sensitive populations, prepare and plan for the dangers of extreme heat.”More than two-thirds of all Americans were under heat alerts in 2023, according to the CDC.

In recent years, heat has been the leading weather-related killer each year. Heat kills about double the number of Americans as floods, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes and cold.“Heat can impact our health, but heat-related illness and death are preventable,” said CDC Director Mandy Cohen in a statement.“We are releasing new heat and health tools and guidance to help people take simple steps to stay safe in the heat.”HeatRisk includes a forecast tool and a dashboard.

The seven-day forecast alerts people when temperatures could reach dangerous levels.The dashboard combines the forecast and air quality by zip code.

It gives a risk level from “no risk” to “extreme” as well as suggestions for staying healthy.It also breaks down the risk for various segments of the population.“We actually looked at weather, climate records as well as heat burden or heat mortality records, for over 700 different locations across the contiguous U.S.

and mapped out what different thresholds that are abnor...