The West Coast Heat Has Killed Dozens And Hospitalized More In Canada And The U.S.

[appalachiablue]

Source: NPR

Scores of deaths along the U.S. West Coast and in the Vancouver metro area in Canada are being blamed on an ongoing heat wave that's broken records. Authorities said at least six deaths in Washington and Oregon could be due to the heat wave that began in the region on Friday.

Temperatures in Portland topped at least 116 degrees on Monday after at least three days of record-high temperatures. The area is now cooling off, according to the National Weather Service, but the heat left its mark.

State health officials in Oregon said Tuesday there was a sharp increase in emergency department visits for heat-related illness during the stretch of high temperatures. Hundreds of Oregonians have visited ERs for heat-related illnesses since Friday.

In Seattle, temperatures reached at least 108 degrees at one point and in Spokane, temperatures reached 109 degrees, the highest temperature ever recorded there...

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/06/30/1011622492/the-west-coast-heat-has-killed-dozens-and-hospitalized-more-in-canada-and-the-u-

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- Related: Photos of the Pacific Northwest, Heatwave Is Melting Power Cables and Buckling Roads, NPR, June 30, 2021.

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/29/1011269025/photos-the-pacific-northwest-heatwave-is-melting-power-cables-and-buckling-roads

[Warpy]

1. Humidity is a big factor in the lethality of this thing

Another factor is the fact that when you're under a heat dome, the air doesn't move. Fans help a lot. It's paradoxical, but walking around also helps. However, heat that's over 108, which is the temperature at which protein starts to cook, it starts to kill, especially older people who lack adequate internal temperature regulation.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Weather officiandos always say

that most deaths from weather-related events don't come from extreme cold, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes or severe storms (lightning/wind) - it's from heat.

[clementine613]

3. More people killed by Repukes and their policies...

... and yet, not a single one of them is going to be held criminally responsible.