The Heat Is On

摘要

Quick quiz: Which severe weather phenomenon leads to more fatalities each year, on average, in the United States: lightning, tornadoes, flash flooding, hurricanes, heat waves, or arctic air outbreaks? According to statistics compiled by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) between 1994 and 2003, heat was the number one killer, accounting for as many fatalities (237 annually) as all of the other headline-grabbing weather hazards combined.