The Temperature Gap Keeps Growing in These Cities

Weather

A hot wave, also known as a heatwave, occurs when temperatures soar significantly above the average for a prolonged period, often leading to health risks, power outages, and increased wildfire hazards

Published: November 13, 2024 10:10 am

During the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference, researchers shared a report that sought to identify the economic impact of extreme weather events related to climate. The report classified extreme and chronic weather events as things such as flooding caused by high rainfall, or the wide-reaching impacts of heat waves caused by higher-than-average temperatures. Using various data points, the report concluded that extreme climate-related weather events have contributed to a cumulative $2 trillion cost over the past decade — with $451 billion coming from 2022 and 2023 alone. Unfortunately, this path will probably worsen in the future. Our world continues to experience shifting climates, worsening hurricanes, higher levels of poverty, more infrastructure damage, and widespread violence due to climate change. As the effects worsen, we’ll most likely see more people affected, higher levels of fatality, and more people having to relocate (if possible) to “safer” areas. Contributing to sustainable effects and urging companies to take more eco-friendly approaches to business is necessary to protect our world from future damage. (This is every billion dollar weather event in the U.S. this past year.)

This summer, in the United States, was especially challenging as temperatures soared to levels way higher than normal. In fact, 2024’s summer heat wave has been tied to at least 30 fatalities in the West. Overall, in 2023, 2,325 people died from heat-related causes; this was an increase over the previous two years, with 1,700 deaths in 2022 and 1,602 in 2021. To determine the southern cities who faced the worst heat waves in early July 2024, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed county-level data on daily average temperature from the NOAA’s nClimGrid-Daily program. County seats were ranked based on the raw differential in average daily temperature from the period of July 1-6, 1981-2010, to July 16, 2024. Only county seats with at least 10,000 residents were considered. Population data is collected from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2022 American Community Survey. It’s important to emphasize that our list aims to find how much hotter it is in certain cities compared to their normal temperatures, so it considers the deviation from normal temperatures — how much hotter current temperatures are compared to historic normals (rather than how high the temperatures are). Also, the list only considers the week of 1-6 July, and some records have been broken since.

Why Does This Matter?

Climate change is worsening all kinds of extreme weather globally. But much of the changes are related to heat as heat fuels other types of extreme weather. Scientists’ analysis found that certain extreme heat waves last year would not have been possible without climate change. Additionally, extreme heat is the deadliest form of weather globally, and the population’s exposure to extreme heat is increasing. One way to understand how climate change is affecting us is by looking at the deviation of temperatures from normal historic temperatures. (This liberal state saw the biggest increases in CO2 emissions.)

These are the Southern cities that experienced the worst heat waves in July 2024: