SS: Heat is known as the silent killer for a reason. Deaths from heat are masked by heart attack or stroke, rather than pinpointing the direct cause.
And the climate is changing - not the weather - the climate. Heat domes are a thing. Falling on hot pavement and suffering third-degree burns is a thing. Air conditioning is not a temporary solution when extreme heat is the new normal.
It’s a general required summary of the article that everyone is required to read, but I could have been more precise and quoted - but quotes are limited and it’s hard to get context in with a short quote.
Actually, scientists will agree with you. You don’t state your age, but by the time people get over 60, their body does not handle heat the way it used to. That’s not good news for the many retirees who moved to rapidly warming climates.
I hear you. I live in Austin and now that I’m 50 I don’t want to be outside in the 100s at all and spend the summer mostly at home. Considering a move to Portland since this place is dying on the vine culturally speaking.
> We partnered with Boston University to find the total number of deaths influenced by heat every year in the United States. The investigation took two years and involved building a statistical model that assessed nearly every county in the country. The full analysis will soon be published in a scientific journal.
Heat isn't just a silent killer in terms of heat-related injury like hyperthermia, stroke and ischaemic heart disease. Be wary of the people who use "correlation does not equal causation" to deny the seriousness of increased mortality during extreme weather events. They could be climate change deniers, or they could be using a glib cliche to feel clever. Correlations are still taken seriously by scientists; they can't just be dismissed.
See this quote from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for example:
> High temperatures are also linked to irritability, fatigue, and decreased performance, which can increase the risk of injury by impacting behaviour such as operating vehicles and power tools. There is evidence to suggests that higher daily temperatures are associated with an increased propensity for assault (Corcoran & Zahnow 2021). The risk of drowning deaths has also been shown to increase during heatwaves (Peden et al. 2023).
> Heatwaves are Australia’s most dangerous natural hazard in terms of loss of life (Coates et al. 2022; DAWE 2015). Heatwave-related deaths peak during severe El Niño years (Table 2). Since 2000, heatwave deaths in Australia have been concentrated in events that largely affected Victoria and South Australia (Coates et al. 2022).
The opening chapter of Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future really makes you FEEL what mass deaths from heat are like. The people rush to the lake to cool off but it ends up becoming unsafe to come out, then the water holds more heat than the air, then they die from heat exhaustion and the lake becomes dead body soup. The way he describes the screams popping up all over the neighborhood as babies start dying one by one and the temperature only continues to rise is horrible.
I’m guessing it sounds like an even bigger number if you or one of your loved ones are one of the ones that die.
I’m also guessing that the number of people who died from lung cancer as a result of smoking didn’t really rise until smoking became fashionable in a large way. I doubt that heat will be fashionable but it is ramping up meaning more people will die directly as a result of the heat.
That of course, does not include widespread starvation because crops die when there is too much heat and not enough water, glacier melt causes flooding (
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/02/after-the-flood-human-suffering-nepal-worst-hit-districts ) or the world burns when everything is tinder dry in the heat. And let’s not forget the civil unrest that generally accompanies such disasters.
[OP] horseradishstalker | 8 hours ago
SS: Heat is known as the silent killer for a reason. Deaths from heat are masked by heart attack or stroke, rather than pinpointing the direct cause.
And the climate is changing - not the weather - the climate. Heat domes are a thing. Falling on hot pavement and suffering third-degree burns is a thing. Air conditioning is not a temporary solution when extreme heat is the new normal.
redyellowblue5031 | 4 hours ago
Both climate and weather are changing. Heat domes have always existed, fundamentally they are high pressure systems.
The intensity, duration, locations, and impacts are changing too.
Just wanted to clarify it’s not one or the other but both.
[OP] horseradishstalker | 3 hours ago
Thanks. You did a better job than I did.
It’s a general required summary of the article that everyone is required to read, but I could have been more precise and quoted - but quotes are limited and it’s hard to get context in with a short quote.
Osiris62 | 5 hours ago
I can believe it. As I get older, I wonder how I managed to tolerate heat before. Being outside in the 90's is almost unbearable.
ViciousSquirrelz | 4 hours ago
Thats because today's heat and yesteryears heat sre two different things.
Sure the high temps are similar, but it was never 97 degrees at 7:30 back in the 80s and 90s
Osiris62 | 4 hours ago
True, but I still feel like I can't take the heat anymore now that I am certifiably old.
[OP] horseradishstalker | 2 hours ago
Actually, scientists will agree with you. You don’t state your age, but by the time people get over 60, their body does not handle heat the way it used to. That’s not good news for the many retirees who moved to rapidly warming climates.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/17/extreme-heat-more-dangerous-for-people-60-and-over-than-previously-thought
melotron75 | 2 hours ago
I hear you. I live in Austin and now that I’m 50 I don’t want to be outside in the 100s at all and spend the summer mostly at home. Considering a move to Portland since this place is dying on the vine culturally speaking.
ghanima | 3 hours ago
> We partnered with Boston University to find the total number of deaths influenced by heat every year in the United States. The investigation took two years and involved building a statistical model that assessed nearly every county in the country. The full analysis will soon be published in a scientific journal.
That's fantastic! Great reporting.
Top_Entrepreneur_970 | 3 hours ago
Heat isn't just a silent killer in terms of heat-related injury like hyperthermia, stroke and ischaemic heart disease. Be wary of the people who use "correlation does not equal causation" to deny the seriousness of increased mortality during extreme weather events. They could be climate change deniers, or they could be using a glib cliche to feel clever. Correlations are still taken seriously by scientists; they can't just be dismissed.
See this quote from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare for example:
> High temperatures are also linked to irritability, fatigue, and decreased performance, which can increase the risk of injury by impacting behaviour such as operating vehicles and power tools. There is evidence to suggests that higher daily temperatures are associated with an increased propensity for assault (Corcoran & Zahnow 2021). The risk of drowning deaths has also been shown to increase during heatwaves (Peden et al. 2023).
> Heatwaves are Australia’s most dangerous natural hazard in terms of loss of life (Coates et al. 2022; DAWE 2015). Heatwave-related deaths peak during severe El Niño years (Table 2). Since 2000, heatwave deaths in Australia have been concentrated in events that largely affected Victoria and South Australia (Coates et al. 2022).
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/extreme-weather-injuries/contents/extreme-heat
trashmule | 2 hours ago
The opening chapter of Kim Stanley Robinson's Ministry for the Future really makes you FEEL what mass deaths from heat are like. The people rush to the lake to cool off but it ends up becoming unsafe to come out, then the water holds more heat than the air, then they die from heat exhaustion and the lake becomes dead body soup. The way he describes the screams popping up all over the neighborhood as babies start dying one by one and the temperature only continues to rise is horrible.
[OP] horseradishstalker | 2 hours ago
Excellent author. One of the wonderful things about books is authors can provide warnings in ways that might otherwise be ignored.
BygmesterFinnegan | 6 hours ago
Up to 10,000 people a year sounds like a really big number until you realize over 3 million people a year pass away.
[OP] horseradishstalker | 5 hours ago
I’m guessing it sounds like an even bigger number if you or one of your loved ones are one of the ones that die.
I’m also guessing that the number of people who died from lung cancer as a result of smoking didn’t really rise until smoking became fashionable in a large way. I doubt that heat will be fashionable but it is ramping up meaning more people will die directly as a result of the heat.
That of course, does not include widespread starvation because crops die when there is too much heat and not enough water, glacier melt causes flooding ( https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/02/after-the-flood-human-suffering-nepal-worst-hit-districts ) or the world burns when everything is tinder dry in the heat. And let’s not forget the civil unrest that generally accompanies such disasters.
As you say: 10,000 is nothing.