Sacramento, CA – If you thought it was hot in July – you are correct. It was the hottest ever – and by a number of measures including the most days in a single month over 100 and the most days in a single month over 110.
The verdict from the National Weather Service – hottest ever.
“It probably comes as no surprise to anyone but it was a hot month,” the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office wrote Thursday in a social media post.
The Sacramento Bee reported: “From June 23 to July 12, Sacramento experienced a 20-day streak of hot weather with an average temperature of 103.8 degrees, according to the weather service. The city previously sweated through a 20-day heat wave with an average of 102.5 degrees in 1984.”
Modesto, Stockton, Merced and Fresno each also recorded their warmest mean average temperatures for the month.
This is just more evidence that climate is changing and the planet is warming up. One of the consequences – more extreme heat.
Last month I noted that it seemed like we have had more extremely hot days – over 110 – than ever before.
That in fact, turned out to be true.
While it’s always been hot, during the summer, it seemed to me that 20 years ago, a hot spell was a little over a 100 for several days, even a week or so. But a hot day might top out at 103—not routinely 107 to 110.
At that point, In Sacramento at least, there have already been four days of 110 this year. That is the most ever recorded according to their data.
Moreover, there were three days last year that topped 110, three the years before.
That’s ten in the last three years. And two days in 2021.
From 1997 to 2020, there were five days total over 110.
So the last four years have had 12 days and the previous 24 years had five. 1996 stood out as an anomaly with three days—but that was right before I moved to Davis. Even counting that year, the last four years have seen 12 and the previous 25 years had seen eight.
Extreme heat is a silent killer. Not only do people die, but heat waves are costly.
“The hidden costs of extreme heat — from lost productivity to healthcare for heat-related illnesses — totaled more than $7.7 billion over the last decade, a new report from the California Department of Insurance found,” the San Jose Mercury News reported.
“Extreme heat is a silent, escalating disaster that threatens our health, economy, and way of life in California,” state Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara said in a statement. “We must prioritize resilience-building efforts and innovative insurance solutions to safeguard our state against the growing impacts and financial risks of extreme heat.”
The Bee, reporting on the same report, noted, “The report estimated that nearly 460 deaths were caused by these heat events, a figure that surpasses Cal Fire’s recorded death toll of the state’s 20 deadliest fires at 312.”
We think of things like tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lightning.
The biggest killer in the US—extreme heat.
According to statistics compiled by NOAA (as reported in Fox), “heat has claimed an average of 183 lives in the U.S. each year based on the most recent 30-year period from 1994 to 2023. That far outpaces the average number of people killed annually by floods (88), tornadoes (72), hurricanes (48) and lightning (36).”
According to the National Academy of Sciences, “Global warming is affecting how hot heat waves get, how long they last, and how often they occur. The toll of heat waves on human health is expected to increase as global warming continues.”
They conclude: “Worsening heat waves are likely to increase the number of heat-related illnesses and deaths. By the end of the century, the United States is expected to see thousands of additional heat-related deaths each year because of climate change.”
In short, yes, in Davis we are seeing more extreme heat events—and that is a result of global warming.
And extreme heat comes at a great cost to state and local governments and presents a devastating health impact that is likely to continue to increase over the next three quarters of a century.
