General Discussion

Coventina

(28,221 posts) Thu Mar 13, 2025, 05:12 PM 12 hrs ago

Hot take: Arizona weather ranks as the deadliest in the country

Arizona doesn't get devastating earthquakes. No tornadoes, tsunamis or hurricanes. We're safe from natural disasters that generate breaking news coverage.

But no one escapes the Arizona heat.

According to a recent study by the Florida personal injury law firm Anidjar & Levine, Arizona's weather is the deadliest in the country. The firm analyzed 10 years of weather-related injury and death data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. Arizona has the most with 3.89 injuries and deaths per 100,000 residents, with Oklahoma ranking second at 3.40. Since 2015, Arizona has averaged 29.4 injuries and 251 deaths due to extreme weather.

What's the culprit? It's friggin' hot! Last year, 771 people in the state died due to excessive heat. In 2023, 645 people died from heat-related illness in Maricopa County alone.

Yes, it's always been hot in Arizona, but the danger is only worsening. The urban heat island effect and climate change have both contributed to rising temperatures and a summer that seems to last longer than ever. This past February was the hottest the state's ever endured. Phoenix had 136 extreme heat days in 1976 but that increased to 158 in 2023. The vast majority of the hottest summers in Phoenix history have come this century.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/arizona-weather-ranks-as-deadliest-in-the-country-21382777

*********************************************************************************************************

Massachusetts here I come!!

3 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

Hot take: Arizona weather ranks as the deadliest in the country (Original Post) Coventina 12 hrs ago OP

Can anyone tell me what makes Oklahoma so deadly? Diamond_Dog 12 hrs ago #1

That'd be my guess. Lots of tornadoes thru there. Attilatheblond 12 hrs ago #3

When I moved to AZ the frist time, Tucson in 1983, is was a MUCH smaller metro area and it did cool down a bit at night Attilatheblond 12 hrs ago #2

Diamond_Dog

(36,218 posts)

1. Can anyone tell me what makes Oklahoma so deadly?

Reply to Coventina (Original post)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 05:23 PM

12 hrs ago

Tornadoes?

Attilatheblond

(5,384 posts)

3. That'd be my guess. Lots of tornadoes thru there.

Reply to Diamond_Dog (Reply #1)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 05:27 PM

12 hrs ago

Attilatheblond

(5,384 posts)

2. When I moved to AZ the frist time, Tucson in 1983, is was a MUCH smaller metro area and it did cool down a bit at night

Reply to Coventina (Original post)

Thu Mar 13, 2025, 05:26 PM

12 hrs ago

It is a massive heat producing, sprawled out asphalt self-perpetuating furnace now and the drought has lowered the water table drastically.

The heat rising from the city creates a diversion for what little monsoon rains might come. Can't imagine what sprawling metro Phoenix is like now. Air conditioners can only do so much, and actually make things warmer. In the early 90s, the gauges for the official temps were moved out into open space around the airports, so the reported highs are no where near what temps on the streets in town are like.

In the mid 90s, I used buses to commute. Brought a thermometer with me to/from work a few times and took readings while sitting on a bus stop bench, in shade, waiting for my transfer. One day, it hit 136 ° at 3 PM. That was in the mid-1990s.

Where I live now is a smaller city, at an elevation of 5000 feet, and surrounded by open space, mountains, washes. It's hotter every year. Trees are dying.

Where I lived in Montana, we had summer days where the high temp was more than Tucson's. Rural, farm, open country, and a town of less than 500 people. Hot, drier every year. A place that used to be a huge producer of hard wheat. Things are bad, farms are going under.

Not just people dying. The environment is dying.

Reply to this discussion