The Pacific Northwest’s heatwave wasn’t just record-breaking. It was deadly.
Multnomah County Health Officer Dr. Jennifer Vines said, “Many of them were found at home, not all of them.”
45 were killed in Multnomah County alone. However, not all deaths may have come to light yet.
Dr. Vines said, “We know a risk factor for a heat-related illness and death is social isolation, so sadly these deaths may be people that are yet to be discovered.”
The numbers are shocking, but not necessarily to the experts.
Paul Loikith is director of Portland State University’s climate science lab. He said, “Heat kills more Americans than any other weather-related phenomenon,”
Heat wave breaks records
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The science behind climate change and our weather extremes
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PSU s Climate Science Lab gets NASA grant to better simulate extreme precipitation
by Cristina Rojas May 14, 2021 Share
How well can a climate model simulate an extreme precipitation event and what causes it? Researchers from Portland State s Climate Science Lab have been awarded an $843,000 grant from NASA to evaluate just that.
Paul Loikith and Andrew Martin, both with PSU s Geography Department, say better understanding the processes that drive extreme precipitation whether that s a cold front, hurricane or atmospheric river is critical as climate change is projected to impact the frequency, severity and seasonality of extreme precipitation across the U.S. When thinking about how extreme precipitation may change under global warming, the way it will change will be in part because of its driving mechanism, Loikith said. Extreme precipitation caused by hurricanes will be affected in different ways by global warming than extr