Climate Clippings - Heat waves, identity politics, and a green starter palace — The Daily Climate

It's hard to imagine summertime heat as much of the Northeast braces for a winter storm, but new research quantifies just how much mortality rates spike in the United States during heat waves: 3.75 percent, on average, based on heat waves dating back to 1987 in 43 cities.
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The study found longer, more intense heat waves were more common in the South than the North or Midwest, with most heat waves lasting two to three days. Yet mortality impacts were more pronounced in the Northeast and Midwest than compared to the South.
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That first heat wave of the season generally saw the biggest spike in deaths, according to the research - a 5 percent increase, versus 2.7 percent for heat waves later in the summer.

Health Fears About Global Warming Are Unfounded - by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery - Environment & Climate News

From 1979 to 1997, extreme cold killed roughly twice as many Americans as heat waves, according to Indur Goklany of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Cold spells, in other words, are twice as dangerous to our health as hot weather.

Heat is becoming a less important factor in human health as air conditioning spreads. Heat-related mortality in 28 major U.S. cities from 1964 through 1998 dropped from 41 deaths per day in the 1960s to only 10.5 per day in the 1990s.
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A study of Siberian health records between 1982 and 1993, where stroke rates are among the highest in the world, found a 32 percent higher stroke risk on cold days than on warm ones.
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A Norwegian study found 47 percent more respiratory deaths in winter than in summer.