Seattle Medium
The heatwave over the last week has caused tragedy. And, Seattle residents can say that they lived through the record-breaking hot stretch of 2022.The Seattle-area heat wave killed at least three. The heat also sent hundreds to the ER. Two men in Seattle are believed to have succumbed to the heat, and a third man died on Saturday after his body overheated. Seattle heat wave broke a record for consecutive 90-degree days.
The city’s hottest heat waves based on the average per day high over a 5-day stretch, per the National Weather Service:
1. 97.2 degrees, June 25–29, 2021
2. 95.8 degrees, July 26–28, 2009
3. 95.0 degrees, Aug. 7–11, 1981
4. 93.8 degrees, July 26–30, 2022
5. 92.8 degrees, July 20–24, 2006
6. 92.6 degrees, Aug. 9–13, 1977
According to the Washington Department of Health, heat-related illness sent more than 240 people to emergency rooms statewide from Monday, July 28, through Friday morning. A health department spokesperson declined to release the number of people statewide killed by the recent heat because of privacy concerns.
It is still being reported that the six-day heat wave, the longest in Seattle history, has killed at least three people in King County, according to preliminary reports from the King County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The heat also indirectly created other tragedies. Three people drowned in the county since last Thursday. The drowning victims, also all men, ranged in age from 22 to 67.
Still, this July heat wave is not as extreme as the record-smashing heat in June of last year, which killed more than 1,000 people from Oregon to British Columbia.
South of Seattle, Portland had seven days in a row with temperatures of 95 degrees or higher. The Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office says it believes at least 14 people in Oregon have died from heat-related causes in the past week, according to the Associated Press. Final determinations of causes of death could take months. The latest heat wave also ranks among the hottest stretches ever in Seattle based on average high temperature.
