Heat — Bleckley, Georgia

2010-07-23 to 2010-07-24 · Bleckley, Georgia

Event narrative

The Macon Telegraph reported that an elderly couple passed away at their home of 62-years as the result of heat exposure or heat exhaustion. The 90-year old male and 83-year old female couple left their home around 1030 am EDT Friday, 07/23/10, to go outside to a wooded area behind their home, approximately 50 yards away from the house. They were both found dead by their son approximately 24 hours later still adjacent to their vehicle were they had gone the previous morning to discard some kitchen scraps.

Wider weather episode

A strong subtropical upper ridge persisted across the south central and southeast U.S. for several days from July 20th through July 28th. Afternoon high temperatures across central Georgia, south of the fall line were mostly in the mid to upper 90s during this period, with a few readings near 100. With a very moist, tropical air mass in place, dewpoints were unusually high, mostly in the mid 70s, with even a few upper 70s. This pushed afternoon heat index values to near 110 across parts of central Georgia. The high humidity did not allow for much cooling at night, with lows near 80 in these same areas. The extended and oppressive heat resulted in the first heat-related deaths in the Peachtree City, Georgia forecast area since the hot summer of 2007. An elderly couple in Bleckley county died of heat exhaustion on July 24th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 250916. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.