Las Vegas suffered through one of its deadliest summers ever, and experts say it will only get worse

This summer has been the hottest on record in Southern Nevada, with temperatures of up to 120 degrees resulting in a spate of heat-related illnesses and hundreds of deaths.

Even worse, summers are only expected to get hotter in coming years because of global warming, said Steffen Lehmann, a professor of architecture and urbanism at UNLV.

“All cities experience it — Phoenix, El Paso, Reno, Salt Lake City — they all have the same problem driven by obviously global warming, and increase of temperatures and longer, more excessive heat waves,” Lehmann said. “Once we go above 115 (degrees), it gets interesting because then the mortality rate is not double, but four times of what it usually is. … The mortality rate shoots through the roof and people are dehydrating and get heat strokes.”

The weather service said temperatures in July were 6.7 degrees hotter than normal, with an average of nearly 100 degrees. That also accounts for when the sun sets, meaning there was little reprieve.

On July 8, the temperature reached 120 degrees. For seven straight days in July, temperatures cleared 115 degrees.

And at the beginning of September, with the fall weeks away, there was an excessive heat warning for three days when temperatures reached 106 degrees.

Clark County said, as of Wednesday, there have been 224 heat-related deaths this year in the Las Vegas area.

And that number will certainly increase because 90% of cases take up to 90 days for the Clark County coroner to investigate, officials said. By comparison, there were just 108 heat-associated deaths on record in early September 2023.

By the end of the year, the Southern Nevada Health District reported 294 heat-related deaths to mark a 78% increase from 165 in 2022. An additional 2,277 people visited the emergency department for heat-related illness.

David Weismiller, a professor at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine, said the heat deaths are concerning, especially considering summers will get hotter in the future. Even though Las Vegans may be more acclimated to heat as compared with people from colder climates, extreme heat still presents a bodily stressor to people, he emphasized.

Scientists can’t gauge how long it may take someone who moved from Michigan to Las Vegas to acclimate, Weismiller explained, and he’d rather people consider the high temperatures a danger regardless if it means protecting their health.

“One of the things that we can do in health care today is remind individuals of how extremely vulnerable they are to the environment,” Weismiller said. “It’s less about how adaptable we are — clearly, we are — and what we don’t know from a scientific basis: What’s the point at which we can no longer adapt? It’s not about adapting to this season because it’s early, it’s about adapting to, ‘I need to modify what I’m doing at any given point because of the extremes of temperature that we’re seeing.’”

Heat illnesses will appear first as cramps and extreme thirst, then develop into vomiting, dizziness and heavy sweating before becoming heat stroke, Weismiller said. Heat stroke can cause organ failure, coma or death if untreated, he added.

Weismiller encourages people to avoid the heat when they can, stay hydrated and know the signs of heat illness.

“The important thing for people to remember is this affects everyone, and although there are individuals who have particular chronic diseases that are not going to do as well (and) there are individuals who are extremes of age that aren’t going to do as well, it really affects everyone,” he said. “Stay cool, stay hydrated and stay informed about this.”

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