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Where are heat waves getting more intense?

Heat waves have become more frequent and intense since the 1960s. They’re also lasting longer. Heat waves can lead to crop damage, wildfires, and contribute to heat stroke deaths. On the cusp of summer, here are the cities that are feeling the heat.

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) measures heat wave seasons as the number of days between the first and last heat wave of a year. In the 1960s, these seasons lasted an average of 24 days. In the 2020s, average seasons reached 73 days.

• San Francisco has had the greatest increase in heat wave season length. They now last over three months longer on average than in the 1960s, a 111-day increase.

  
  

• Meanwhile, individual heat waves are lasting longer in many cities, particularly in New Orleans. Heat waves in the city now last 4.1 days longer on average than in the 1960s.

• Maine, Montana, and Wyoming are the contiguous states with the coldest average May to September temperatures. These states went from an annual median of nine extreme heat days in the 1980s to 13 in the 2010s.
  
  

The EPA has tracked the heat waves of 49 metropolitan areas for decades. See if yours is included.

States with the highest maternal mortality rates

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 80% of pregnancy-related deaths are preventable. The CDC counts the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy as a maternal death, and the causes vary from mental health conditions to infections. USAFacts has data on states with the highest maternal mortality rates.

• Maternal mortality rates varied significantly across states. Mississippi had the highest rate in 2021 (82.5 deaths per 100,000 births) while California had the lowest (9.7 per 100,000). However, data was unavailable for 17 states; the CDC suppresses when states have fewer than nine maternal deaths for confidentiality. 

• Black women have consistently had the highest maternal mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group since at least 2014. In 2021, it was over 2.5 times higher than that of white and Hispanic women. Six of the top 10 states with high maternal mortality rates also ranked in the top 10 for the highest percentages of Black births. (Mississippi also had the nation’s highest share of Black births.)
  
  

• The top conditions accounting for pregnancy-related deaths were mental health conditions (23% of deaths), excessive bleeding (14%), and cardiac issues (13%).

  
  

• The CDC’s Eliminate Maternal Mortality Program partners with various state and local committees in 39 states. These committees are comprised of gynecologists, midwives, nurses, mental health professionals, and patient advocates who collaborate for interventions to prevent pregnancy-related deaths.

Learn more in this article.

Data behind the news

Wildfire smoke recently triggered air quality warnings in Minnesota, across the Great Lakes, and all the way to New York and Massachusetts. While these particular wildfires are in Canada, we do have a report on wildfires in the US, plus data on acres burned in wildfires.

Ready to test your government data knowledge? Then take the weekly fact quiz.

One last fact

Until last summer, Kias and Hyundais were a small percentage of car thefts — less than 10% in most places. By the end of 2022, they were half of the vehicles stolen in several cities, yet theft numbers remained low in others.