(The Conversation) – Beach trips, cookouts, and other outdoor activities are in full swing as summer heats up and the first widespread heat wave of 2025 arrives.
For many people, summer is their favorite time of year. However, summer also brings the risk of dangerously high temperatures that can become lethal.
In the U.S., hundreds of people working or playing outside – even those who seem healthy – succumb to heat-related illnesses each year. Older adults and people in areas that historically haven’t needed air conditioning tend to see the highest rates of illnesses during heat waves, as Chicago saw in 1995 when at least 700 people died in a heat wave…