EDMOND — Extreme heat indices are taking a toll on some young and elderly Oklahomans, and the heat wave will continue — for a while.

Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the United States. National Weather Service statistical data shows that heat causes more fatalities per year than floods, lightning, tornadoes and hurricanes combined.

So far this year, as of last week, there have been four heat-related deaths in Oklahoma, said Cherokee Ballard, spokeswoman for the state medical examiner’s office. That number may increase, but the results are not in yet, Ballard said.

On Monday, another day with heat indices well above 100 degrees, metro paramedics issued EMSA’s fifth heat alert this summer, topping the previous high of three heat alerts, said Lara O’Leary, EMSA spokeswoman.

Since the first heat alert was issued on May 29, nearly 200 people in the metro area with heat-related symptoms have been taken to local hospitals, O’Leary said. Paramedics are urging extreme caution when doing activity outdoors as long as the heat wave lasts, she said.

EMSA issues a heat alert, which will remain in place until temperatures drop significantly, after dispatchers receive five emergency heat-related calls.

From 2-8 p.m., seven Oklahomans age 18-82 overcome by the heat were transported in good condition to local hospitals, O’Leary said. Many more calls related to the heat were counted as “chest pain” or “dizziness,” she said.

“We hope citizens will hear the warnings and follow life-saving tips like limiting their outdoor activity or continuing to hydrate throughout the day,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary also urged metro residents to check on the elderly — people age 65 or older — as they are more prone to heat stress than younger people. The elderly do not adjust as well as younger people to sudden changes in temperature, they are more likely to have a chronic medical condition that changes normal body responses to heat and they are more likely to take medication that impairs the body’s ability to regulate temperature or that inhibits perspiration.

The National Weather Service has also issued its own heat advisory, meaning that a period of high temperatures is expected to continue. Hot temperatures and high humidity will combine to create a situation in which heat illnesses are possible.

The advisory is in effect until 10 p.m. Thursday across parts of Oklahoma, including Oklahoma County, and western north Texas.

For Oklahoma City, a high of 104 degrees is expected for Wednesday, followed by a high of 102 degrees on Thursday and a high of 102 degrees on Friday. A 20 percent chance of precipitation will lower the temperature to 99 degrees on Saturday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Bruce Thoren said a frontal boundary will push into the state late this weekend and during early next week helping to suppress the heat. The front is expected to lower temperatures to 95 on Sunday and 94 on Monday.

“There’s hope on the horizon,” Thoren said.

Forecasters are also watching a weak tropical low spinning toward the northern coast in the Gulf of Mexico. There is a good chance for tropical cyclone development by mid-week, according to the National Weather Service.



ALL-TIME HIGHS

You may be wondering how this heat wave ranks in the history books.

In the summer of 1980, remembered by many Oklahomans as the most prolonged and severe heat wave outside of the Dust Bowl years, the 50 days of triple-digit temperatures in Oklahoma City stands as an all-time record, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.

Regarding all-time high temperatures, the statewide high is 120 degrees, recorded on four different dates in Alva (1936), Altus (1936), Poteau (1936), Tishomingo (1943) and Tipton (1994), said Gary McManus, associate state climatologist with the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. Oklahoma City’s all-time high is 113 degrees, recorded on Aug. 11, 1936.

Official historical records are not available for Edmond, McManus said. The all-time high for Guthrie is 116 degrees, recorded in 1936.



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