Ashley Siefert Nunes
WASHINGTON—This month marks the start of “Danger Season”—the time roughly from May through October in the Northern Hemisphere when climate change impacts in the United States are at their peak and increasingly likely to collide or coincide with one another. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has launched its online map to track the places at risk of extreme heat, wildfires, storms, poor air quality or flooding during the 2024 Danger Season.
The map—covering the contiguous United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico—is updated daily based on National Weather Service and Climate Central data. The webpage will also display the number of people under extreme weather alerts, the percentage of people who have been under at least one extreme weather alert since May 1, the percentage of extreme heat alerts clearly influenced by climate change, and the percentage of people who live in disadvantaged communities under alerts. According to today’s map, more than 64.2 million people in the United States and its territories are currently facing extreme weather alerts with 33% of this population living in areas designated as disadvantaged. Additionally, since May 1, 73% of the U.S. population has already experienced at least one extreme weather alert this Danger Season with 85% of the extreme heat alerts made more likely by climate change.
The year 2023 was the hottest on record globally, adding to a long-term trend: The last 10 years have been the 10 hottest on record. Additionally, last year, in the United States alone, at least 492 lives were lost and 2023 ranked first in number of billion-dollar climate and extreme weather disasters, with 28 separate disasters that each reported damages of $1 billion or more for a total economic cost of at least $92.9 billion. Danger Season is again expected to be severe. With ocean temperatures far above normal for the past year and a switch from El Niño to La Niña conditions expected to occur this summer, the country could endure an exceptionally high or even record-breaking number of tropical storms and hurricanes.
While extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change could touch nearly everyone in the United States this Danger Season, its effects often pose particularly grave risks on those experiencing poverty or homelessness, people (often people of color) living in urban heat islands or floodplains, elderly adults, small children, people with cardiovascular and other health conditions, outdoor workers, and people facing electricity shut offs.
UCS has experts available to discuss anticipated extreme weather events in the United States and around the globe; the connection of extreme weather events to fossil fuel induced climate change; the impact of extreme weather on the electric grid, critical infrastructure, agriculture, and outdoor workers; building equitable climate resilience; relevant local, state, national, and international policies needed to address the climate crisis; funding for low-income nations; and holding fossil fuel companies accountable including through litigation.
Below is a list of UCS experts who can discuss the 2024 Danger Season.
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Paul Arbaje, an energy analyst at UCS. He is based in New York City, New York. Click here to view his biography.
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Dr. Astrid Caldas, a senior climate scientist for community resilience at UCS. She is based in Washington, D.C. and is fluent in English and Portuguese. Click here to view her biography.
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Dr. Juliet Christian-Smith, the western states regional director at UCS. She is based in Berkeley, California. Click here to view her biography.
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Dr. Rachel Cleetus, the policy director and lead economist in the Climate and Energy Program at UCS. She is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Click here to view her biography.
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Dr. Kristina Dahl, a principal climate scientist at UCS. She is based in San Francisco, California. Click here to view her biography.
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Dr. Juan Declet-Barreto, a senior social scientist for climate vulnerability at UCS. He is based in Washington, D.C. and is fluent in English and Spanish. Click here to view his biography.
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Dr. Omanjana Goswami, an interdisciplinary scientist with the Food and Environment Program at UCS. She is based in Washington, D.C. Click here to view her biography.
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Mike Jacobs, a senior energy analyst at UCS. He is based in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here to view his biography.
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Dr. Delta Merner, the lead scientist with the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at UCS. She is based in Baltimore, Maryland. Click here to view her biography.
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Zoe Middleton, the associate director of just climate resilience at UCS. She is based in Houston, Texas. Click here to view her biography.
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Dr. Carly Phillips, a research scientist with the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at UCS. She is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Click here to view her biography.
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John Rogers, a senior energy analyst at UCS. He is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is fluent in English and Spanish. Click here to view his biography.
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Erika Spanger, the director of climate analytics at UCS. She is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Click here to view her biography.
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Shana Udvardy, a senior climate resilience policy analyst at UCS. She is based in Washington, D.C. Click here to view her biography.
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Dr. Stacy Woods, the research director for the Food and Environment Program at UCS. She is based in Washington, D.C. Click here to view her biography.
Contact UCS Climate and Energy Media Manager Ashley Siefert Nunes via email at [email protected] or by phone at +1 952-239-0199 to speak with a UCS scientist or analyst on the 2024 Danger Season or other related topics.
Additional UCS Resources and Analyses:
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UCS blogposts from this and previous Danger Seasons are available here.
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A peer-reviewed study by UCS titled “The Fossil Fuels Behind Forest Fires: Quantifying the Contribution of Major Carbon Producers to Increasing Wildfire Risk.”
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A peer-reviewed study by UCS titled “Too Hot to Work: Assessing the Threats Climate Change Poses to Outdoor Workers. For the interactive mapping tool, click here.
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A peer-reviewed study by UCS titled “Killer Heat: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days.” To get the results for a specific city or county, use the online widget. For the interactive mapping tool, click here.
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A UCS report titled “U.S. Military on the Frontlines of Extreme Heat.”
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A UCS report titled “Farmworkers at Risk: The Growing Dangers of Pesticides and Heat.”
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A fact sheet on the science connecting extreme weather events and climate change.
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A UCS blogpost, “Extreme Summer Weather Threatens Gas Power Plants. Here’s How.”
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A UCS blogpost, “Can We Trust Our Power Plants to Keep Us Cool During Dangerous Heat?”
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A UCS blogpost, “Extreme Heat Makes Electricity More Expensive, More Polluting and Less Reliable.”