Latest news with #heatwave
CBS News
7 hours ago
- Climate
- CBS News
A CBS Chicago photographer remembers the harrowing experience of the deadly 1995 heat wave
This week marks 30 years since a historic and horrific heat wave killed 739 people in the Chicago area — in what remains the deadliest weather event in the city's history. Officials this week have been sharing what they have learned in the decades since. But CBS News Chicago photojournalist Dino Pillizzi had a more personal reflection, as he covered the tragedy in real time back in July 1995. "I recalled it right away," Pillizzi said, "not realizing it's been 30 years already." Amid the sweltering heat, Pillizzi's initial assignments behind the camera for CBS News Chicago — or Channel 2 News, as we would have said back then — came before it was clear just how serious the situation was. "My assignment was to go to the beach at North Avenue and get, you know, people enjoying the warm weather," Pillizzi said. "It was just people being refreshed at the water — playing kids, families, and everything else. And that same day, I remember just being there a couple of hours, and I got called to go to the morgue." Pillizzi remembers just what the atmosphere was like. "It was hot and sticky, and the air was stagnant," he said. "It was hard to breathe." Pillizzi also remembers the situation in Chicago's public housing projects in such areas as the State Street Corridor on the city's South Side. "They didn't have resources to keep themselves cool. They didn't have resources," he said. "The high-rises didn't have air conditioning." More calls of fatalities came in as the intense heat wave went on. "The morgue couldn't handle the amount of people, and so they brought in refrigerator trucks that were very prominent at the Taste of Chicago weeks before — the refrigerator trucks," Pillizzi said. The deadly nature of the heat wave was illustrated vividly by scenes of body bags being wheeled toward the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. "Nowadays, we don't show any of that. We don't show body bags," said Pillizzi, "but back then, it was different." It was an emotionally challenging experience for many, including Pillizzi himself. "You kind of feel that, that guilt. Not survivor's guilt, but just guilt that there's so many people suffering, and then I have to go intrude on their suffering to get video of them suffering. It wears on you," Pillizzi said. "That was hard to know that many people died that didn't have to die." On Tuesday, Chicago city leaders commemorated the victims of the deadly heat wave, and discussed how to ensure it will never happen again. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was in attendance. "It was a tragedy that revealed just how deadly the intersections of heat, housing insecurity, racial inequity, and social isolation can be," Chicago chief sustainability officer and Department of Environment Commissioner Angela Tovar said of the heat wave. The special event at the Columbus Park Refectory on the city's West Side also featured a screening of part of a 2018 documentary about the '95 heat wave — "Cooked: Survival by Zip Code," directed and produced by Judith Helfand. After the screening, a panel discussion examined the lasting legacy of the heat wave, and how Chicago is working proactively to reduce the risks of extreme heat.
Bloomberg
7 hours ago
- Climate
- Bloomberg
Heat Deaths in Spain Have Surged This Summer Amid Record Temperatures
Extreme heat in Spain was 10 times deadlier over the past two months than during the same period last year, with an estimated 1,180 people dying due to heat waves from mid-May to mid-July, compared to 114 people in 2024, according to Spain's Ministry of Health. Research center Instituto de Salud Carlos III calculated excess mortality due to heat by comparing total deaths between May 16 and July 13 this year with the historical average between those dates. Spanish authorities issued a total of 76 red alerts for extreme heat over the past two months, compared to none during the same period in 2024.
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE How Burnley signed Kyle Walker - the inside story: The secret personal reason he chose them, his two huge incentives to keep Clarets up and how he's already helping bring more stars to Turf Moor
It started with a brainwave in a heatwave. Last month, in the restless early hours of a stifling morning – and with his club in the midst of a heavy recruitment drive for their forthcoming Mission Impossible – a senior Burnley executive had what he initially felt was a random thought: 'What about Kyle Walker?'
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Drew Timme gets the And-1
What are you doing to stay cool as weather heats up? With temperatures hitting between 26 and 32 in Metro Vancouver, Victoria and the Fraser this warm weather is expected to stick around for a few Baylon is out at Ambleside Park checking in on people
CBS News
11 hours ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Humidity will be "truly tropical" in Massachusetts this week. There is relief in the forecast.
The next few days are going to be hot with temperatures near or slightly over 90 degrees. In fact, a few towns will record yet another heat wave by hitting 90+ Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The story does not end there this week, actually, it doesn't really start there either. The main headline over the next 48 hours will be the humidity. The dewpoints are forecast to be well into the 70s both Wednesday and Thursday, just about off of our charts. Dewpoints will generally fall between 70-75 degrees throughout all of southern New England. Combine that with temperatures in the low 90s and it will FEEL like it's close to 100 degrees outside. Thursday will be the peak of the humidity. The forecast graphics below may actually be a bit too conservative. I think we have a real shot at dewpoints in the upper 70s on Thursday. Truly tropical stuff. Should we reach the upper 70s on Thursday, we will be watching the record books. 79 degrees is the highest dewpoint on record in July we made the list with a dewpoint of 77 on the 10th. Temperatures will be a degree or two "cooler" on Thursday thanks to some additional cloudiness and a storm threat. But, with dewpoints that high, it certainly won't feel any better. This will be the "grand finale", if you will, of long, humid stretch. Over the last 10 days, the daily high dewpoints have ranged between 66 and 74 degrees, considered somewhere between "very humid" and "tropical/oppressive." There has been NO relief, the daily low dewpoints have never dipped below 60 during that entire stretch. Halfway through the month of July, Boston currently sits at the 4th highest monthly average dewpoint on record. Given the forecast over the next few days, we could easily climb to the number 1 slot. Also, of note, you may notice that July 2023 and July 2024 are also in the top we have had some very humid stretches recently! Most importantly, there IS RELIEF in the forecast! Friday will be a transition day with dewpoints tumbling hour by hour. Saturday will be an absolute winner of a day. Our first day in the "comfy" range since way back on the 4th of July!
