Emily Atkin of Heated notes how the real danger missed by all of us drama addicts in the wake of Hurricane Laura:
People in Southwest Louisiana are suffering in the wake of Hurricane Laura, the strongest storm to ever hit the state, and the fifth-strongest storm to ever hit the country.
Though not as catastrophic as expected, the Category 4 storm killed at least 16 people, and insured losses are estimated to be between $8 billion and $12 billion. That’s staggering considering Laura’s path avoided major population centers like New Orleans and Houston. …
Living in a city with these conditions would be dangerous on its own, particularly for poor, elderly, or sick populations. But Southwest Louisiana residents have also had another dangerous condition to deal with since the storm passed: relentless extreme heat. Since Hurricane Laura hit, a relentless heat wave has been choking the region. That extreme and potentially deadly heat continues today [August 31], according to the National Weather Service.
It’s not hyberbole to call this deadly. More Americans die each year from the effects of heat and heat-related illness than any other form of severe weather, according to the National Weather Service. The heat index in Laura-plagued regions could reach up to 112 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, the NWS’s advisory said. It added: “Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses, especially where power outages have occurred.”
How to highlight heatwaves? Up here in Minnesota, anything over 90° gets the the local meteorologists barking, acting as if we’re a bunch of wilting dandelions, and that can be true when we also get hit by a wave of moisture, such as, say, from a Gulf of Mexico hurricane. This summer we’ve seen a number of days with abnormally high dewpoints, days that reminded me of childhood visits to Gulfport, Mississippi.
But Atkins is also reporting on a proposal to name heatwaves. No doubt a lot of people will be skeptical, right up until they discover that a lot of people are talking about how they lost their parents to Heatwave Doug. Names will function as a marker and a warning to those in affected areas – and reminders that heat is a result of anthropogenic climate change.
So, add together the wreckage in the trail of the Iowa derecho, and the wildfires in California, and right now we seem to be silently reeling.
