Publication Date July 18, 2013 | Illinois State Climatologist Office

Heat-Related Deaths in the US

United States
Illinois State Climatologist Office, 2013. Image: NOAA NWS
Illinois State Climatologist Office, 2013. Image: NOAA NWS

The outstanding years were 1995 primarily due to the over 700 deaths associated with the Chicago heat wave and the 1999 where another 100 deaths were associated with Chicago. In general, the graph shows that heat wave deaths have been higher since the mid 1990s than before. However, that pattern may be due to poor reporting of heat deaths before 1995