(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.
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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.
Even in places where heat is recognized as a dangerous health threat, people can be caught off guard as the thermometer creeps higher, on average, each year. In some cases, dangerous heat can arise quickly. In 2021, a young family died of heat stroke on a California trail after setting out for a hike when temperatures were still in the 70s Fahrenheit (low to mid 20s Celsius)…