This Is How You Die In Extreme Heat

Record temperatures across North America have already killed hundreds. Here's what actually happens when overheating turns fatal.

The heat dome roasting millions of people across the Pacific Northwest and swaths of Canada, sending temperatures in usually temperate places into record-breaking triple digits, has already claimed hundreds of lives. And those are just the ones we can count so far. Climate change has increased average temperatures 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century, making heat waves like this one more frequent and intense than at any point in recorded history. As the heat soars, so too does the death toll. A worldwide study published last month in the journal Nature Climate Change found global warming responsible for 37% of heat-related deaths between 1991 and 2018. As temperatures tick ever higher, that figure may well rise. The following is what happens if you’re one of the next people whom extreme heat kills, according to W. Lawrence Kenney, an expert in human thermoregulation at Penn State University.