People in a fountain in New York City on July 24. Photo: Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images
The Biden administration launched Heat.gov on Tuesday, an interagency website that coordinates information on extreme heat.
Why it matters: Excessive heat events are the leading weather-related killer in the U.S. and disproportionately affect low-income communities. They are also expected to become more severe, frequent and longer-lasting as a result of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
- A major heat wave that's ranged over huge swaths of the U.S. this month has broken or tied thousands of daily high-temperature and warmest overnight low-temperature records across parts of the country, according to the National Center for Environmental Information.
- In the U.S., 38.1 million people were under heat warnings or advisories on Tuesday.
What they're saying: “President Biden has directed us to respond to the extreme heat gripping the nation. Extreme heat is a silent killer, yet it affects more Americans than any other weather emergency — particularly our nation’s most vulnerable,” Gina McCarthy, White House national climate adviser, said in a statement Tuesday.
- “Heat.gov is an exciting new and accessible website designed to help everyone become engaged with their community, their state-level government, and federal partners, to take actions that can reduce the deadly health impacts of extreme heat.”
The big picture: Several federal agencies collaborated in making the website, including the National Integrated Heat Health Information System, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.
- The website also offers tools like heat forecasts from NOAA and the National Weather Service, a new national Climate and Health Outlook developed by the Department of Health and Human Services, and the CDC's Heat and Health Tracker.
Go deeper: Heat waves around the world are connected, scientists say