Here’s how many people have died in the heat this year in Clark County
It may be a mild heat next to last year’s record summer, but the Clark County coroner said Tuesday that at least 87 people have died in Southern Nevada heat this year.
The news comes after the National Weather Service reported that this July was the coolest on record since 2015. Las Vegas remains the second-fastest-warming city in the country, however, and July temperatures have increased an average of 5.8 degrees since 1970, according to science communications firm Climate Central.
Ten days broke 100 degrees in July, with an average maximum temperature of 97.5 degrees, weather service data shows.
And the heat has still been too much to bear for some. The most recent number is higher than the count of 63 deaths released at the end of last July, but lower than the Aug. 13 upgrade to 123 deaths.
Tie to drug use
Of the 87 who have died, the coroner’s office released information about 79 victims whose families have been notified.
As the Las Vegas Review-Journal has reported, the coroner updated the office’s protocol in 2021 to better assess heat as a contributing factor in Southern Nevada death investigations.
Experts say even the best accounting of heat-related death leaves many victims out.
Three major risk factors for heat-related deaths are old age, drug use and homelessness.
The victims identified Tuesday had a median age of 60, with two victims as young as 28 — both of whom had used either methamphetamine or fentanyl, a popular opioid.
All 13 deaths of people under 41 involved drug use.
To prevent heat-related death and heat illness, Clark County opens cooling stations once the weather service issues an extreme heat warning. Some have pushed to keep them open 24 hours a day in the summer because the effects of heat on the body can be cumulative.
City planners have invested in targeted tree planting throughout the Las Vegas Valley, too, to increase often life-saving shade in pavement-dense neighborhoods.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
