A compilation of local and state records show that 52 people died as a result of the heat wave that recently covered almost the entire nation.
A debilitating heat wave has caused at least 52 deaths, with 3,500 temperature records shattered across the country from June 30 to July 6. “We had every single state in the lower 48 hit 90 or 100 degrees because of this heat wave,” WCBS New York meteorologist Lonnie Quinn said. “That’s unheard of.” Washington, D.C., for instance, saw its 11th consecutive day of plus-95 degree temperatures, the longest streak ever for the city. So far this year, there have been 40,000 heat records set across the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For comparison's sake -- roughly 30 Americans have been killed by terrorism inside the United States over the past decade, and many of those deaths were a result of domestic terrorism, not Islamic extremists. Additionally, an average of 16 Americans were killed by terrorists overseas per year during the same time period. And the odds of being killed by a terrorist on an airplane are about 1 in 10 million.
I would not be surprised if radical state legislatures start passing laws that ban Heat Indexes. Banning accurate measure of sea-level rise is already on the books.