WASHINGTON (AP) — Forget about Red Hot. A new color-coded heat warning system utilizes magenta to alert Americans to…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Forget about Red Hot. A new color-coded heat warning system uses magenta to alert Americans to the most dangerous conditions they may encounter this summer.
On Monday, Earth Day, the National Weather Service and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a new online heat risk system that combines meteorological and medical risk factors to create a simplified, color-coded seven-day forecast for a world that's getting worse. announced. heat wave.
“For the first time, we will be able to learn how much heat is too hot for health, not just today but over the coming weeks,” Dr. Ari Bernstein, director of the National Center for Environmental Health, said at a joint news conference. said. According to government health and meteorological agencies.
Magenta is the worst and deadliest of the five heat threat categories, and is characterized by what the agency calls “infrequent and/or prolonged exposure with little or no overnight relief.” It hits everyone with “extreme heat''. This is a step above red, which is considered a significant risk where anyone can be injured without adequate cooling and hydration, impacting the healthcare system and some industries. Red is used when the hottest days are in the top 5% for a given location on a given date. The alert level may further increase to magenta if other factors come into play, a weather department official said.
On the other hand, if it is light green, there is little risk. Yellow is a mild risk and applies primarily to the very young, the elderly, people who are sick, and those who are pregnant. Orange has a moderate risk and primarily harms people who are sensitive to heat, especially those without air conditioning, such as the homeless.
The five categories are based on strictly scientifically set numerical thresholds, like the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, better known by the terms categories 1 to 5, but the thermal version is is unique, said National Weather Service Administrator Ken Graham. Thresholds are based on local weather data, local climatology, which tells us what kind of environment people are used to in a particular place at different times of the year, and the local climatology, which tells us what kind of environment people are used to in a particular place at different times of the year, and what the local climate is like if heatstroke or death occurs in that area. It was calculated using health and medical data, he said.
“Heat is a threat to our health,” said CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen. He said the heat sent more than 120,000 people to emergency rooms in the United States last year. Last year was one of the deadliest heat years in decades, according to government records.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Rick Spinrad said heat is the No. 1 cause of weather-related deaths in the United States, citing CDC data of 1,200 deaths per year. Last year was the hottest year on record worldwide.
Both the National Weather Service and the CDC plan to post versions of the tools on their websites. Enter your zip code into the CDC dashboard to focus more on health risks and air quality, and zoom in on the weather service's map online to see more detailed forecasts and explanations. Both versions include the risk of heat illness for the next 7 days and are also available in Spanish. The CDC site is https://www.cdc.gov/heatrisk and the weather service version is https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/heatrisk/.
Graham said there are many other weather indicators related to heat. These include a heat index that takes humidity into account. Wet bulb bulb temperature. Intended for heat stress outdoors in the sun. and a universal thermoclimatic index that brings in radiation and other urban heat factors.
“This is a way to simplify it,” Graham says. “You have to be able to simplify the content so that people first want to actually see it and most importantly understand it.”
He said a version of the heat risk map has been in use in California and other parts of the West for about 10 years.
Health officials Cohen and Bernstein said that even as climate change worsens the heat, society can reduce deaths with better warning and better planning. Doctors said that before summer starts, people should talk to vulnerable people about what they should do ahead of a heatwave. For example, some heart medications interact with outdoor heat, so you shouldn't stop taking them, but you can also take other precautions, just as you would a teenager with asthma, he said. said Bernstein, who trained as a pediatrician.
Those precautions will be needed soon, Graham said.
Graham said the National Weather Service's seasonal forecast for May and June is likely to show above-average temperatures across much of the United States. “So as we get closer to summer, it's going to be as hot as ever and even hotter if it's above average.”
Citing numerous studies from the past decade, he said, “Heat waves are becoming hotter, longer, more frequent, and less likely to ease at night.” “So things are getting more and more serious.”
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