Heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. How can you protect your health in extremely hot weather? Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub, offers ten tips for staying safe when it's hot.

Most strategies in the United States for helping people stay cool during extreme heat are geared toward urban areas, leaving vulnerable rural populations behind. “We need interventions that fit the environment,” Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub, told The New York Times.

Duke University experts are warning of health dangers from a massive heat dome moving toward the eastern United States, which may endanger human health due to a prolonged period of high temperatures, reported Enlace Latino NC. “This heat dome is hitting relatively early in this year’s heat season, so there are large numbers of people who haven’t yet acclimatized to high temperatures,” said Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub.

“Everyone is vulnerable to heat. You can be a person in good shape and good health and still succumb to heat exposure,” said Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub. With forecasts calling for “increasingly oppressive heat” in the Triangle this weekend, Ward talked with The News & Observer about how people can stay safe.

The New York Times took a look back at historic heat waves in the United States, including one in July 1995 that enveloped Chicago. Because many of the people who died were older residents living alone, that particular event served as a “turning point” in how many people think about heat waves, said Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub. “The social and economic structure of society has a big impact on who dies,” Ward said.

The National Weather Service office in Raleigh is forecasting daytime highs to approach 100 degrees this weekend. But the biggest risks to people could be after the sun sets, explained Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub. “The time in which we are most vulnerable to heat illness is when temperatures overnight do not drop below, say, 75 degrees,” Ward told NC Health News. “Our bodies need time to recover from heat exposure during the day."

A heat dome is forecast to bring higher-than-normal temperatures to North Carolina this week. Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub, talked with the WPTF Morning Show about the public health risks of extreme heat and how people can protect themselves with or without air conditioning.

As sweltering late spring conditions hit much of the Northern Hemisphere, wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is getting renewed attention as a measure of heat risk. Ashley Ward, director of the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub, told Vox that WBGT could be a more effective way to convey the threats of high temperatures than the heat index, but broad scale public education is needed.

A massive heat dome is moving eastward across the United States, endangering human health with an extended stretch of high temperatures. In this news tip, Ashley Ward (director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub) offers commentary and tips for staying safe.

Francis Bouchard, Duke’s first climate leader in residence and longtime insurance executive, wrote in a commentary for Insurance Thought Leadership that a recent workshop could serve as a model for bridging the gap between industry knowledge and community needs. The convening aimed to address at-risk/in-need communities—and those who support them—about the types of climate risk data and analytics they could access and deploy. Duke experts helped facilitate conversation among 40 state and local leaders.