What — And Who — Is To Blame For Extreme Heat?

Consider This from NPR

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🗓️ 28 June 2023

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

A punishing heat wave has left more than a dozen people dead across Texas. In recent days temperatures have climbed above 100 degrees in many parts of the state. Now the extreme heat is heading east, putting people's health at risk across the Mississippi Valley and the Central Gulf Coast.

NPR's Lauren Sommer reports on how climate change and the El Niño climate pattern are increasing the intensity and frequency of heat waves. And Monica Samayoa from Oregon Public Broadcasting reports on how one county is suing oil and gas companies for damages caused by a heat wave.

This episode also features reporting from KERA's Toluwani Osibamowo in Dallas.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	If you live in the Southern US, you don't need us to tell you it is hot.
0:12.2	To me it feels like it gets hotter every summer.
0:14.8	For Ashley Hardy, in Dallas, this punishing heat wave means walking her dog early before
0:20.4	it gets truly unbearable and keeping that walk short.
0:24.4	We're probably going to be on here for less than 30 minutes total and then be back in the
0:28.2	AC.
0:29.4	Then the squirrels are suffering.
0:32.1	Inks Lake State Park in Burnett, Texas posted a Facebook video of a squirrel, split out flat
0:38.7	on a shady patch of concrete captioned, I feel you.
0:42.6	What they're doing is they're putting their body in contact with the surface as a little
0:45.9	bit cooler than them.
0:47.4	Carlos Botero is a biologist at UT Austin.
0:50.5	Basically what that helps is it's dumping all the extra heat that they have to like
0:54.9	lower down their body temperature.
0:56.6	It's a strategy called spluting and Botero says if you see a squirrel doing it, you know
1:02.5	the heat has gotten bad.
1:04.4	It may look a little bit cute, but it's actually an indication that these guys are in trouble.
1:09.2	And millions of people are too, as the heat wave spreads east.
1:13.7	More than 60 million Americans are expected to face dangerous levels of heat over the next
1:18.9	week as the Mississippi Valley and Central Gulf Coast begin to experience what Texas has
1:24.9	been dealing with for weeks.
1:26.7	This would have been a case of pick your poison.
	...

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