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Impacts and Responses to the 1995 Heat Wave: A Call to Action
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1996
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EngineeringExtreme WeatherUrban Climate ImpactUrban Heat IslandClimate PolicyUrban WeatherEarth ScienceSocial SciencesGeophysicsClimate ImpactUrban Energy BudgetPublic HealthClimate ChangeMeteorologyClimate HazardsFire SafetyGeographyWeather DisasterClimate IssueGlobal WarmingUrban Heat MitigationHeat TransferEpidemiologyClimatologyIntense Heat WaveHeat-related DeathsHeat WaveThermal EngineeringDisaster Risk ReductionUrban ClimateEmergency MedicineDisaster Studies
The 1995 mid‑July heat wave killed 830 people nationwide, 525 in Chicago, with most victims elderly, and it highlighted a rising trend of heat‑related deaths that far exceed those from other severe weather events. The study aims to define heat‑island conditions, standardize heat‑death classification, improve city‑specific warning systems, and advance research on heat‑stress meteorology. Findings show that Chicago deaths were caused by a combination of inadequate heat‑wave warnings, power outages, flawed death assessments, insufficient emergency and hospital services, urban heat‑island effects, an aging population, and residents’ inability to ventilate homes because of crime fears or lack of fans or air conditioning.
The short but intense heat wave in mid-July 1995 caused 830 deaths nationally, with 525 of these deaths in Chicago. Many of the dead were elderly, and the event raised great concern over why it happened. Assessment of causes for the heat wave–related deaths in Chicago revealed many factors were at fault, including an inadequate local heat wave warning system, power failures, questionable death assessments, inadequate ambulance service and hospital facilities, the heat island, an aging population, and the inability of many persons to properly ventilate their residences due to fear of crime or a lack of resources for fans or air conditioning. Heat-related deaths appear to be on the increase in the United States. Heat-related deaths greatly exceed those caused by other life-threatening weather conditions. Analysis of the impacts and responses to this heat wave reveals a need to 1) define the heat island conditions during heat waves for all major cities as a means to improve forecasts of threatening conditions, 2) develop a nationally uniform means for classifying heat-related deaths, 3) improve warning systems that are designed around local conditions of large cities, and 4) increase research on the meteorological and climatological aspects of heat stress and heat waves.