The forecast for welcome week this year is just about perfect. Highs are in the mid 80s with lots of sun. However, all those who resided in Wisconsin or the Midwest in general this summer can remember when temperatures soared into the mid-100s accompanied by high humidity and drought a month and a half ago. Some conditions were so severe that many Fourth of July firework festivities were canceled. Dane and Columbia counties even saw roads buckle and “pavement blow-ups.”
Now that all of that is over, here are the final statistics for Madison from the National Weather Service: the highest temperature was 104 degrees on July 5; seven days total of record breaking heat in July; 14 days with high temperatures of 95 degrees or higher, seven days of which were in a row (June 30 to July 6); and less than half an inch of rain over 47 days (June 1 to July 17). As of late August, Dane County was still in severe to extreme drought status, according to the U.S. Drought Portal.
It could have been worse. Prior to 2012, there were six previous heat waves with similar intensity and longevity: 1934, 1936, 1947, 1955, 1988 and 1995. This July over 1,000 dairy calves died in the state of Wisconsin from heat and the lack of water. However, the heat waves and droughts during the 1930s caused a dustbowl which transformed the lives and jobs of those working in Midwestern agriculture.
Also unlike previous years, most buildings have air conditioning, which is the most important thing for people to have during a heat wave, according to Richard C. Keller, a medical history and bioethics professor at UW-Madison.
Keller is currently compiling an account of the heat wave that spread across France and central Europe in 2003. An estimated 70,000 people in Europe—15,000 in France alone—died in early August from temperatures reaching 104 degrees. There is no death toll for this summer’s heat wave in the United States.
“There wasn’t an epidemic of heat wave deaths this summer,” said Keller. “There is much more air conditioning in the U.S. and it is more widespread.”
According to Keller, European cities have historically never needed air conditioning. The United Staters on the other hand has used it for decades. Places like the YMCA and VFW halls also provide a way for people without air conditioning to cool down.
Cooling centers are necessary, but reaching out to people so that they can get there is also very important. According to Keller, the most at-risk populations during a heat wave are the marginalized populations—the addicted, the elderly, the sick and the very poor—who are so socially isolated that nobody thinks to check up on them to make sure they are drinking water and staying cool.
“The really high death tolls in the U.S. are among really disenfranchised populations, those in poverty, and those who don’t live in or have access to air conditioning,” said Keller.
The Earth is experiencing more heat waves which occur more often and with increasing intensity in the age of global warming.
“It is not a question of stopping the heat from coming, but of adapting to it because this is the new reality,” said Keller, “These adaptations can take many forms: more shade, more trees, in addition to getting everyone into air conditioning. And buildings that can withstand high heat as well as cold temperatures during the winters.”
