Heat — Southeast Middlesex, Massachusetts

2013-07-05 to 2013-07-06 · Southeast Middlesex, Massachusetts

Event narrative

A 45 year old mail carrier died as a result of heat illness on July 6th. Temperatures in the area had climbed above 90 for the 3rd day in a row on the 5th, when the mail carrier was found and transported to the hospital. The high humidity levels resulted in heat indices above 90 degrees for the daylight hours and heat indices above 96 degrees for 8 to 9 hours beginning at 11am. The event start time indicates when heat indices climbed to 100 degrees and the event end time is the time at which he was found collapsed. He was pronounced dead the following morning at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level ridge over southern New England resulted in a long period of very hot and humid weather across the region. July 3rd through July 7th all had high temperatures above 90 degrees, constituting an official heat wave for the city of Boston. Low temperatures provided little relief, dropping just below 80 degrees for much of the time. Despite the extended period of high heat and humidity, only one person succumbed to heat illness. That was a 45 year old postal worker in the city of Medford who died on July 6th. The official cause of death for the postal worker was heat illness. On July 6th the high temperature in Boston was 93. The heat index climbed to 90 degrees by 9am and remained above 90 degrees through 9pm. From 1pm-5pm, the heat index was 96 degrees.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 462404. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.