Gothamist77%
Here's what to know about hot weather and the toll it takes on New Yorkers 37%
By Elizabeth Shwe0%
6/19/2026, 4:01:03 PM
Keywords: Hot Weather, Heat, New York City, Public Health, Cooling Centers, Air Conditioning, Heat Deaths
BS Summary: This article contains 29 faulty reasoning types, including Indoctrination, Biased Writer Voice, and Availability Heuristic, with Attempt to Sell a Product or Service as the most egregious example at 24.1% saturation with 185 hits. Analysis detected 1,389 faulty-reasoning hits from 769 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.3% and a BS Rank of 37% (13,964 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 63.80% of the article peer group.
The first day of summer is Sunday, but New Yorkers have already gotten a taste of what’s to come – days and days of hot and steamy weather.
New York City Health Commissioner Dr.
Alister Martin recently discussed the hot weather – and its deadly toll on New Yorkers – with “All Things Considered” host Sean Carlson.
Here is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.
Carlson: The health department recently released its annual heat-related mortality report showing that about 500 New Yorkers die prematurely each year because of the hot weather.
Can you tell us more?
Martin: Well, first of all, you nailed the data right out the gate.
What we see from the evidence is that approximately 500 New Yorkers die each year from heat-related causes.
But what's most interesting about the data is, it's not the extremely hot days that seem to be taking the greatest toll on New Yorkers.
It's actually the ordinary hot days.
It seems that about 80% of the heat-exacerbated deaths are occurring on non-extreme hot days – that's between 82 degrees Fahrenheit and about 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
What we're not seeing is huge spikes in deaths during heat emergencies.
And I'd say the other thing that's important to appreciate about the data is the number of those days – those sort of non-extreme heat days – has actually doubled over the course of the last five decades, going from about 14 to what our data now shows, to about 32 per summer.
And so that baseline seems to be rising.
We just had the earliest heat advisory in city history.
How concerning is that?
And does it force public health officials like yourself to re-evaluate or adjust their heat safety strategies?
Well, it definitely demonstrates a slow uptick – that this sort of normal summer heat is actually also more associated with morbidity and mortality.
One of the most important solutions is a quite straightforward one, and that's air conditioning.
The fact is, ACs are a life-saving intervention.
What we see from the data is that nearly half of heat-stress deaths are related to high temperature at home – folks who were at home and didn't have access to an AC.
And what we find from data is that the home deaths, where we had information about if somebody had AC or not, those 48%, not a single person had or was using an air conditioner.
So air conditioning is a straightforward intervention.
If you can't afford an air conditioner, what do you do?
We have a couple of important things that we're doing on this, The first big thing is we're expanding what we know as the Cooling Center Program.
For the first time in New York City history, we at the health department are converting some of our facilities in our buildings into cooling centers.
What that means is, these are free to the public.
Folks can come in, get services.
We also are promoting some of the other methods to get an air conditioner for free through the Essential Plan Cooling Program, which provides free air conditioners to folks who are eligible – patients who are on the Essential Plan.
And then lastly, the city also runs the HEAT program, which basically is a cooling-assistance program that gives New Yorkers access both to an air conditioner and also gives them some funding to help pay for it.
Let's say you're a pretty conscientious person, like you wear sunblock, you bring water, wear a hat.
What are some things even the most aware people tend to forget when it comes to the heat?
The data demonstrates that people are dying during these sort of normal hot days – the temperature range between 82 and 94 degrees.
What we're seeing is that it's mostly due to exacerbations of existing conditions, things like heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease.
So check in on your neighbors.
Check in on your family members.
Check in on the folks who you are loved ones, who have chronic conditions on those hot days because the data's telling us that that's when folks are most at risk.
New Yorkers can stay informed about weather emergencies and available cooling resources by signing up for Notify NYC, the city’s free emergency notification system.
Residents can also use the City’s Cool Options Finder to get information about cooling centers, libraries, museums, malls, and other air-conditioned spaces throughout the five boroughs.
The New York State Labor Department also offers heat-related guidance for employers and workers.
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100%flagged-word coverageAlister Martin
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