Heat wave

A heat wave is a prolonged period of unusually hot weather relative to the climate and season of a region. Its duration and temperature thresholds vary by location.

Blocking (meteorology): A persistent atmospheric circulation pattern that slows or diverts the movement of weather systems. Blocking can keep clear skies and hot air over one region for days.
Heat illness: A range of medical conditions caused by excessive heat, from cramps and exhaustion to heatstroke. Prolonged exposure can overwhelm the body's ability to regulate temperature.
Heat warning: A public alert issued when forecast temperatures or heat stress are expected to reach hazardous levels. Warnings give communities time to open cooling centers and check on vulnerable people.
Cold wave: A prolonged period of unusually cold weather relative to a region's climate and season. It is the temperature extreme opposite to a heat wave.
Climate change attribution: The assessment of how much human-caused climate change altered the likelihood or intensity of an event. It estimates how global warming has changed the odds of particular heat waves.
Heat dome: A persistent high-pressure system that suppresses clouds and traps hot air near the surface. This pattern can intensify and prolong a heat wave.
Heat mortality: Deaths attributable to exposure to high environmental temperatures, estimated through medical and statistical evidence. The death toll often exceeds counts based only on cases explicitly labeled heat-related.
Heat action plan: A coordinated set of measures for preparing for and responding to dangerous heat. Plans connect forecasts with health services, outreach, and emergency operations.
Drought: A prolonged period of precipitation deficiency that causes water shortages relative to local conditions. Drought concerns water deficits; a heat wave concerns unusually high temperatures, though they can reinforce each other.
Climate change: Long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, driven today primarily by human greenhouse-gas emissions. Warming shifts the baseline on which regional heat-wave thresholds are assessed.

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