
Extreme Heat in Las Vegas
Clip: Season 6 Episode 2 | 5m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
A look at the major temperature spike in Las Vegas and the extreme heat wave.
A look at the major temperature spike in Las Vegas, and if the extreme heat waves are something we should expect in the future.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Nevada Week is a local public television program presented by Vegas PBS

Extreme Heat in Las Vegas
Clip: Season 6 Episode 2 | 5m 47sVideo has Closed Captions
A look at the major temperature spike in Las Vegas, and if the extreme heat waves are something we should expect in the future.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipThat extreme heat we've had expect future heat waves to only increase in severity, says Eric Erick Bandala assistant research professor at Desert Research Institute.
We did some analysis in the past and we found that the extreme heat, and particularly the heat waves in in Las Vegas, are getting stronger, more frequent and getting worse every time.
At least this is the trends for the last, let's say, 20 years or so.
Is this something that people living in southern Nevada should just accept as commonplace and get used to?
I'm afraid that the exit the cover with more and pave sort faces around are creating something that is called the your backyard island, which is getting worse and worse.
And the heat island is a phenomenon that collect the heat during the day and release it back into the nighttime.
So something that we have also find is that not just the high temps during the day are going higher, but the gap between the high and the low them is getting closer.
So we have warmer nights every year and is getting hotter and hotter during the day.
The nighttime where we were supposed to have some release.
When you think about extreme heat in southern Nevada, what concerns you the most?
Well, there are many concerns.
One of them is, for example, in agreement with our findings, the number of heat related deaths have been increasing significantly and constantly for at least 15 years.
So to give you an example, in 2007, which is the first year that we got these data for analysis, there were about 20 heat related deaths.
Last year there were over 250.
So now these is a big concern because is the people's life that we are losing here.
But beside that, we have observed also an increase on the number of, for example, outdoor workers affected by that.
And in a very recent project funded by the John B's Trust, we found that not only outdoor workers but also indoor workers has been increasingly affected by extreme heat, which was something that amazes.
I was not expecting that to happen.
How so?
For example, people working in places where there's heat around like kitchens, dry cleaners are being affected by the heat outside, but also because the they it is hard in there and they have no access to, for example, ventilation or air conditioners that double the effect on them.
So they are reporting or complaining about these kind of hard working situations.
And we got these information from Nevada, OSHA, where they said that, I mean, they report that this is increasing in time as well.
Your study that explored the impact of summertime heat waves on people who work outdoors, what stood out to you from it?
You know, I would say that the main thing that surprised me was the the increase of number of female outdoor workers being affected by extreme heat.
Now, we were not able to figure out whether that was just because more and more female workers are jumping into outdoor works or jobs or whether it was a physiological issue, depending on the gender.
So anyway, I thought that that was interesting because a guy lines are usually producer thinking on the average person, which probably looks a lot like me, you know, middle age, this tall, this weight.
But that take me to think that probably the guidelines or even regulation had to be gender considering because it's not the same the the effect that being have in someone like me that if it is female with different conditions and physical characteristics.
What else may not be understood about extreme heat?
We found like the number of heat related deaths for people under the influence of substances has increased.
Also like crazy, for example, people under the influence of alcohol or methamphetamines.
Cocaine has going like broke high in the last ten years.
So I suppose that the kind of thing that we all need to know is that if you are using any of these substances, it's probably not the best idea to go and expose yourself to the extreme heat.
The Southern Nevada Health District says those most at risk for heat related illness are older adults, the very young and those with chronic medical conditions or mental illness.
However, anyone doing strenuous physical activity in hotter weather can be affected.
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Clip: S6 Ep2 | 19m 30s | Our panel discusses psilocybin, its effects, and how it can contribute to PTSD research. (19m 30s)
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