Last week's heat wave saw a spike in emergency room visits
Vermont Public
Last week’s heat wave saw the most heat-related emergency room visits of any Vermont heat wave in the past six years.
There were about 40 heat-related emergency department visits, representing 0.5% of all visits last week, according to data collected by the state health department. It was the second-highest number of heat-related visits in the past eight years, losing out to the 2018 heat wave, which was twice as long.
At Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport, the highest temperature recorded last week was 99 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat index, a measure which includes humidity to determine the impact of heat on the human body, peaked at 105 F. And since a person’s ability to withstand high temperatures is relative to what they’re acclimated to, it doesn’t even have to be all that hot for some Vermonters to experience problems.