Extreme Heat Hits Across US, Killing Some And Driving Up ER Visits

The Texas Tribune: Emergency Room Visits Surge, Texans Die Amid Dangerous Heat Wave 
A dangerous heat wave that blanketed Texas this month has prompted a public health crisis that’s particularly affecting older people and outdoor workers across the state, local and federal health data shows. At least nine people have died from the heat in one South Texas county, the local medical examiner reported, eight of them older than 60. In sweltering Texas prisons, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, have died of heart attacks or unknown causes in facilities that lack air conditioning. (Douglas, 6/30)

AP: Hiker Dies While On 8-Mile Hike In Triple-Digit Heat At Grand Canyon National Park
A 57-year-old woman has died while on an eight-mile hike in triple-digit heat at Grand Canyon National Park, authorities said Monday. The victim’s name and hometown weren’t immediately released. Park officials said a ranger was notified around 6:30 p.m. Sunday about a distressed day hiker in the remote Tuweep area of the park. (7/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Here’s Where It Was Hottest In Bay Area’s 1st Big Heat Wave Of Summer
Highs pushed near 100 degrees in the Bay Area’s inland valleys and reached well into the 70s along the coast Saturday as soaring temperatures were on track to make this weekend the hottest of the year to date. The heat was expected to peak by Sunday and taper off throughout next week, according to the National Weather Service’s Bay Area division. (Castro-Root, 7/1)

AP: World Swelters To Unofficial Hottest Day On Record 
The entire planet sweltered to the unofficial hottest day in human recordkeeping July 3, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. High temperature records were surpassed July 3 and 4 in Quebec and northwestern Canada and Peru. Cities across the U.S. from Medford, Oregon to Tampa, Florida have been hovering at all-time highs, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Beijing reported 9 straight days last week when the temperature exceeded 35 C (95 F). (Walling and Borenstein, 7/5)

Meanwhile, heat events are expected to worsen —

CNN: El Niño Is Here And The World Must Prepare For More Extreme Heat, UN Weather Agency Warns
Governments must prepare for more extreme weather events and record temperatures in the coming months, the World Meteorological Organization warned Tuesday, as it declared the onset of the warming phenomenon El Niño. El Niño is a natural climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean that brings warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures and has a major influence on weather across the globe, affecting billions of people. (Regan, 7/5)

Also, on air quality and the environment —

NPR: Canada's Record Wildfire Season Continues To Hammer U.S. Air Quality
Several hundred wildfires are continuing to burn across several Canadian provinces this weekend, with an ongoing impact on impact air quality for vast swaths of the North American continent. Earlier this week the air quality in Toronto was assessed to be among the worst in the world, just weeks after the wildfires had left New York City with that dubious title. (Marx, 7/1)

The New York Times: July 4 Fireworks Can Add To Air Quality And Wildfire Concerns 
This year Salt Lake City is replacing its fireworks with synchronized dancing drone displays to avoid worsening air quality and setting off more wildfires. Boulder, Colo., is switching to drones, too, and Minneapolis is opting for lasers, simply because those technologies have been easier to source than fireworks in recent years. And as wildfire smoke from Canada again blanketed much of the United States last week, New York City officials debated whether to set off fireworks on the 4th but, as of Monday night, had not called them off. (Erdenesanaa, 7/4)