Heat — Southeast Providence, Rhode Island

2013-07-20 · Southeast Providence, Rhode Island

Event narrative

A 90 year old woman died at the Charlesgate Nursing Center in Providence. The woman was not in poor health but lived in a room without air conditioning. Despite air conditioned rooms being available to the woman, she remained in her room. The Rhode Island Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that the cause of death was hyperthermia or extreme heat. A heat advisory was in effect for southeast Providence County, with heat index values up to 102 expected. Heat index values reached 92 in Providence by 8am, peaked at 101 at 2pm and remained there for 3 hours before temperatures fell below 80 after a thunderstorm. Time of death is approximate.

Wider weather episode

A pre-frontal trough moved into southern New England, providing lift for showers and thunderstorms to develop in a hot and humid atmosphere. In addition, CAPE up to 2000 J/kg and 30-40 kts of shear provided enough instability and shear for thunderstorms to become severe. Because of warm air aloft, these thunderstorms mostly produced strong to damaging winds and not large hail.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 491396. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.