The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Tallying Deaths from Heatwave British Petroleum
Dear Diary. Welcome to July. It’s time to go about the gruesome task of tallying deaths from historical CAT4 Heatwave British Petroleum. I categorize a CAT4 heatwave as one that is responsible for about 100-1000 deaths with numerous all-time records being recorded during its scorching tenure. Heatwave British Petroleum at one time fit this category over portions of Mexico and Texas. Now it has diminished to a major CAT3 over portions of the Southeast. We would see over 1000 deaths in association with my top CAT5 ranking, and if it has been deemed by Mexican officials that there have been over 1000 deaths, I’ll inform all that indeed Heatwave British Petroleum was a CAT5. I reassigned Pacific Northwest/Canadian Heatwave Beta from 2021 to a CAT5 for that reason.
Blaming deaths on excess heat can be a tricky business, so unlike for tornadoes and hurricanes, real tallies for heatwaves aren’t known for weeks and often months after the event takes place. So far, I see that 100-200 deaths from Heatwave BP have been reported in Mexico with 14 in Texas. Here are those reports:
Mexico acknowledges 112 heat-related deaths so far this year, almost triple the figures in 2022
By Associated Press
June 29, 2023 at 10:15 p.m. EDT
(Marco Ugarte/AP)
MEXICO CITY — Mexican health authorities say there have been at least 112 heat-related deaths so far this year, acknowledging the deadliness of a recent heat wave that the president previously said was being overblown by alarmist journalists.
The report, released late Wednesday, also shows a significant spike in heat-related fatalities in the last two weeks. So far this year, the overall heat-related deaths are almost triple the figures in 2022.
The Health Department normally issues a report on heat-related fatalities each week, but in June — at the height of the heat wave — it skipped a week, for reasons that remain unclear.
The deaths reached a peak in the week of June 18-24, with 69 deaths in one week nationwide, an unprecedented number. Temperatures in some parts of Mexico have risen to over 105 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) in recent weeks.
The week of June 11-17 was also unusually bad, with 31 deaths across the country.
So far this year, the largest number of deaths from heatstroke and dehydration have occurred in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon, home to the industrial hub of Monterrey.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador claimed last week that mounting reports of heat deaths were untrue, and were part of a media campaign against his administration.
“There is an alarmist, yellow-journalism trend,” López Obrador said, citing lower death figures that were already outdated at that time.
The high number of heat-related deaths appeared to be due in part not only to high temperatures, but to a delay in the onset of seasonal rains that normally come to Mexico in mid-June and tend to cool things off a bit.
The Health Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the delay in its delay in reporting the fatalities.
Nor was it clear why the president thought the deaths were a political issue, possibly because several media outlets reported claims that some of the deaths were caused by electricity shutoffs at some of the victims’ homes.
López Obrador is a staunch defender of the state-owned power utility.
Texas heat wave responsible for at least 13 fatalities and hundreds of hospitalizations | kens5.com
Texas heat wave responsible for at least 13 fatalities and hundreds of hospitalizations
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, nearly 300 people died from the heat last year. At least one of those deaths was from Bexar County.
Author: Megan Reyna
Published: 10:21 PM CDT June 28, 2023
SAN ANTONIO — Across Texas, the current heat wave has claimed at least 13 lives.
11 of them are from Webb County, according to its medical examiner. The other two deaths were when two Florida tourists died while hiking in this extreme heat at Big Bend National Park.
In San Antonio, the fire department said it is not aware of any recent heat-related deaths, but it has had more than 250 heat-related calls so far in June.
Many of those calls result in hospitalizations. Doctor Angelica DesPain with Christus Health System said she has been seeing at least three to four children come into the hospital a day with heat-related illnesses. She said while no one has died at her hospital, these near-record temperatures can be deadly.
“Our body temperatures can get as high as 104, 105, maybe even 108,” DesPain said. “Once we get to that temperature, it can be pretty deadly if that body temperature is not lowered.”
Doctor DesPain said while she encourages everyone to stay indoors during the heat wave, she knows that is not always realistic.
“The truth is, a lot of times people need to go to work, people need to attend functions, children need to be children and be outside and play,” She said. “So, we do expect the heat-related injuries.”
Hospitals across San Antonio are staying busy treating heat exhaustion and heat stroke. At Baptist Health, since Father’s Day, the hospital said they have treated more than 100 patients for heat-related illnesses.
At University Hospital, so far this month, they have had 11 patients come to the emergency room and three were admitted. Both hospitals said they have not had any deaths.
Doctor DesPain said she credits first responders for quickly treating patients before she cares for them.
“The first priority is always to cool and kind of get the temperature going down before they even transport you to the hospital,” DesPain said.
According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, nearly 300 people died from the heat last year. At least one of those deaths was from Bexar County.
Doctor DesPain said she encourages anyone who is spending time outside to hydrate, consider drinking electrolytes and do not hesitate to call 911 if you start to feel symptoms of heat exhaustion.
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For my next step I’ll be looking for attribution studies which peg Heatwave BP’s veracity on the effects from carbon pollution. Look for any of those to come out and be posted on this site during July.
Here are some “ET’s” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is some new June 2023 climatology:
Here is more climate and weather news from Saturday::
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)