Nashville faces rising heat streak dangers
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Brutal heat streaks like the one we're experiencing now are becoming more common in Nashville and nationwide, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: Prolonged heat is particularly hazardous to human health. It's the leading cause of weather-related deaths.
Driving the news: The average number of annual extreme heat streaks rose between 1970-2024 in 80% of the 247 U.S. cities analyzed in a new report from Climate Central, a climate research group.
- Nashville is near the top of the pack: Music City now experiences about five more periods of prolonged, dangerous heat per year, the analysis found.
How it works: Climate Central defines an "extreme heat streak" as three or more days in a row with maximum temperatures over the 90th percentile of a given location's daily max temperatures during the 1991-2020 period.
Between the lines: Climate change is making extreme heat more intense and more frequent, studies have shown.