10 — 201

lornajarrettblanchard June 1, 1989

–201 CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat and hyperthermia code.[1]

–107 Blanchard tally based on State breakouts below.

Arizona ( 15)

–15 State. CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat and hyperthermia code.

–10 Maricopa County. CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat and hyperthermia code.

— 2 Tucson, extreme heat, June 13-30. NCDC Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 6, June 1989 p. 26.

Arkansas ( 1)

— 1 Pine Bluff, Aug 5. Female; home, all windows close and one small box fan; temps in 90s.[2]

California ( 32) CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat/hyperthermia code.

Florida ( 3)

— 3 Lushine. “Underreporting…” Figure 3, “Annual Temperature Deaths, Florida, 1979-1999.”[3]

Mississippi ( 10) CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat/hyperthermia code.

Missouri (~18)

–~18 MO DHSS. Data & Statistical Reports. “Hyperthermia Mortality, Missouri 1980-2013.” [4]

— 14 State. CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat/hyperthermia code.

— 11 St. Louis. CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat/hyperthermia code.

North Carolina ( 2)

— 2 Mirabelli and Richardson. “Heat-Related Fatalities in North Carolina.” Figure 1.

Oklahoma ( 1)

— 1 Tillman Co., 4 miles west of Davidson, Aug 21. Heat exposure; male, walking from truck.[5]

Tennessee ( 2)

— 2 Obion County south of Reelfoot Lake, July 26. Heat exhaustion; elderly couple in/near car.[6]

Texas ( 23)

–23 State. CDC WONDER. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat/hyperthermia code.

— 9 State. Port Arthur Community Post. “Summer’s humidity, heat pose problems.” 6-27-90, 6.[7]

Narrative Information

NCDC on AZ: “Record or near-record high temperatures were observed in many areas around the state. The extreme heat wave began on the 13^th and reached its peak on the 18^th. Douglas broke the all-time record with 108°F. The maximum in Phoenix on the 18^th was 115 degrees. Tucson’s record high maximum temperatures included 107 on the 17^th, 113 on the 18^th, 112 on the 19^th, 108 on the 29^th, and 112 on the 30^th. The 103 in Winslow and the 116 at Yuma tied records. Two deaths in the Tucson area were blamed on the heat.” (NCDC Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 6, June 1989 p. 26.)

Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. Compressed Mortality File 1979-1998. ICD-9, E900 excessive heat and hyperthermia code, 1989 search. CDC WONDER On-line Database, compiled from Compressed Mortality File CMF 1968-1988, Series 20, No. 2A, 2000 and CMF 1989-1998, Series 20, No. 2E, 2003. Accessed at http://wonder.cdc.gov/cmf-icd9.html on Jun 26, 2017 9:50:38 PM

Lushine, James B. “Underreporting of Heat and Cold Related Deaths in Florida.” Miami, FL: National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, NOAA. 1-6-2009 modification. Accessed 11-1-2015 at: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mfl/?n=fla_weather_casualties

Mirabelli, Maria C. and David B. Richardson. “Heat-Related Fatalities in North Carolina.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 95, no. 4, April 2005, pp. 635-637. Accessed 9-2-2015 at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449233/

Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services. Data & Statistical Reports. Chart: “Hyperthermia Mortality, Missouri 1980-2013.” DHSS. Accessed 11-19-2015 at: http://health.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/hyperthermia/data.php

National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 6, June 1989. Asheville, NC: NCDC, NOAA, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Accessed 7-4-2016 at: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/orders/IPS/IPS-D882B82C-973B-494B-9DBA-193E87E03754.pdf

National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 7, July 1989. Asheville, NC: NCDC, NOAA, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Accessed 7-4-2016 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/sd/sd.html?_finish=0.8323424548406806

National Climatic Data Center. Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 8, August 1989. Asheville, NC: NCDC, NOAA, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. Accessed 7-4-2016 at: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/IPS/sd/sd.html?_finish=0.31070355521906856

Port Arthur Community Post (Harry Taylor), TX. “Summer’s humidity, heat pose problems.” 6-27-1990, p. 6. Accessed 5-1-2016 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/texas/port-neches/port-neches-community-post/1990/06-27/page-6?tag

[1] The CDC breakout of fatalities by State totals 94. The difference in the State breakout total and the U.S. total is that the CDC “suppresses” (does not show) fatalities in States wherein fatalities are fewer than 10.

[2] NCDC/NOAA Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 8, Aug 1989, p. 18.

[3] Figure 3 is a chart which shows heat deaths in one color and cold deaths in another on the same horizontal bar for each year. The fatality range shown on the left of the chart is in increments of five, going up to thirty. The bars for each year are shown diagonally and do not show any numbers. This does not make them readily readable. Thus one has to measure with a ruler the bar showing the lowest combined deaths (1979), which appears to show one cold death and one heat death. With the unit of measurement of one death then measured against the heat portion of all the other bars, one can get an approximation of the heat deaths for each year. I say “approximate” in that by this method we counted 133 heat deaths over the 21-year period included in the graph, whereas the text of the article notes that there were 125. Repetitious measurement attempts gave us the same result. The article notes that the data came from death certificates collected by the Public Health Statistics Section, Office of Vital Statistics, Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.

[4] We say “about” 18 deaths in that chart plots fatalities by increments of 10 on the left axis and years along the bottom, with a line connecting dots. Takes interpretation, even with enlargement.

[5] NCDC Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 8, Aug 1989, p. 42. Notes when found the victim had a body temperature of 120°.

[6] NCDC/NOAA. Storm Data, Vol. 31, No. 7, July 1989, p. 61. Notes “Their car had bogged down in mud or a rural West Tennessee road…The woman was found in the car. Her husband…apparently wandered away from the car.”

[7] “Last year, as many as nine Texans may have died from excessive heat…”