The previous three months ranked as the second-warmest winter on record for the contiguous U.S. and the driest in 45 years, NOAA NCEI data shows. Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah each shattered their previous warmest-winter records by more than 2°F. The February average temperature hit 40.4°F a full 6.6°F above the 20th-century baseline.

Drought-parched soil absorbs far less water, which means it also amplifies surface heat. The drought now covering 54.9% of the contiguous U.S. is forecast to persist across the interior West, Southwest, and High Plains, per the same NOAA NCEI analysis. Preparation before the first heat warning saves lives. This season, the starting conditions are already unfavorable.

Start with what you're actually facing not just the air temperature, but the compounded threat.

Heat is the single deadliest weather hazard in the United States. Between 1999 and 2023, extreme heat contributed to nearly 23,000 deaths nationwide, NOAA's Las Vegas heat synthesis found, published in April 2025. Those numbers are accelerating: in Clark County, Nevada alone, heat-attributed deaths rose from 243 in 2021 to 526 in 2024, more than doubling in three years.

Heat stroke, the most severe form of heat illness, can push body temperature to 106°F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes and causes death or permanent disability without emergency treatment, CDC guidance states. That's not a slow-moving threat.

Action items:

1. Check the NWS HeatRisk tool for your area. The tool provides a 24-hour forecast of heat-related health impact risk, calibrated specifically for heat-sensitive populations. The EPA's extreme heat page offers supporting guidance on vulnerable groups and indoor risk.
2. Identify which risk categories apply to your household. Older adults 65+, infants and young children, people with chronic conditions, outdoor workers, and people without air conditioning all face substantially higher danger, EPA guidance confirms.
3. Account for neighborhood-level variation. Urban heat island mapping in Las Vegas found an 11°F difference in actual air temperature between the coolest and hottest neighborhoods in the same city a gap that translates to nearly 30°F on a heat-index-adjusted basis, NOAA research found.

Gotcha: Do not assume that living near a weather reporting station gives you an accurate picture of your actual heat exposure. If you're in a densely paved, low-tree-canopy neighborhood, your local conditions are likely meaningfully worse than the official reading.

This is where most heat deaths are preventable. People who die in heat events typically lack a plan for where to go or what to do when their home becomes unsafe.

If you have air conditioning:

1. Service the unit before heat season. Clean or replace filters, confirm it cools effectively at peak demand, and verify it runs properly at night, EPA recommends.
2. Prepare for the possibility that a power outage renders your AC useless at the worst possible moment. After Hurricane Beryl in 2024, some Texas residents went without power for 10 days during an active heat wave, and heat illness cases tripled compared to the prior week, the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit documented, published in December 2024.
3. Identify a backup cooling location now not when you're already overheating.

If you do not have air conditioning:

1. Locate your nearest public cooling centers, malls, or libraries before a heat event begins. Spend as much of the day as possible in air-conditioned spaces during extreme heat, EPA guidance advises.
2. Block direct sun from east- and west-facing windows using shades, awnings, or heavy drapes. Outdoor shading reduces solar heat gain more effectively than indoor window coverings. Close windows when outside air is hotter than inside; open them at night when temperatures drop.

On fans a critical correction:

Electric fans do not cool air. They work by helping sweat evaporate from skin. Once room temperature reaches the mid-90s°F or higher, a fan recirculates dangerously hot air and stops providing any cooling benefit at that point, it can accelerate heat illness rather than prevent it, EPA notes. At those temperatures, the right move is to get out of the building.

A heat wave combined with a power outage is not an inconvenience. Research modeling three U.S. cities found that a multi-day outage during a historic heat event would more than double heat-related mortality and could require medical attention for between 3% of the entire urban population in Atlanta and 50% in Phoenix, according to the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. Heat dome safety tips that ignore power outage risk are incomplete.

1. Food safety: A refrigerator keeps food safe for up to four hours without power if the door stays closed. A fully stocked freezer holds for 48 hours; a half-full one holds for 24, CDC guidance states. Know this in advance so you make the right calls quickly.

2. Medical equipment: Anyone relying on electricity-dependent devices ventilators, oxygen equipment, power wheelchairs, home dialysis needs an emergency power plan that does not depend on the grid staying up, CDC notes. Contact your utility provider now; many maintain medical baseline registries.

3. Generators and carbon monoxide: After Beryl in Texas, carbon monoxide poisoning spiked alongside heat illness because people ran generators indoors or in garages, the Climate Resilience Toolkit found. Run generators outside, at least 20 feet from any building opening. Generator exhaust is odorless and lethal, EPA warns. Install a CO detector if you own a generator.

4. Have a go-plan: Identify in advance where you will go if your home becomes unsafe family, a friend, a cooling center, a hotel. Know the route, know the hours, and make sure the plan doesn't depend on a phone that may be uncharged.

Gotcha: Grid demand peaks during heat waves, which is precisely when outage risk is highest. Do not assume air conditioning access is guaranteed just because the forecast calls for extreme heat. Plan as if it might fail.

Risk is not distributed evenly. Knowing who in your orbit faces the greatest danger is where preparation gets specific.

Older adults: People 65 and older are physiologically less able to adapt quickly to sudden temperature changes, a limitation often compounded by medications and chronic illness, CDC explains. The practical rules: drink water consistently throughout the day thirst is an unreliable signal in older adults wear loose clothing, avoid stove use during peak heat hours, and arrange for someone to check in daily. About 25% of people with dementia live alone and may not recognize or respond appropriately to heat risk, CDC notes.

Outdoor workers: From 1992 to 2022, 1,042 U.S. workers died from occupational heat exposure, an average of 34 per year, plus an estimated 33,890 heat-related injuries involving days away from work from 2011 to 2020, OSHA background data shows. Workers new to heat exposure face the highest risk in the first days on the job, before the body acclimates. The non-negotiables: cool water access continuously (at least one quart per hour), shade breaks during the heat of the day, and no working alone in extreme heat without a check-in plan.

People without air conditioning: In desert environments, this gap is life-threatening. In Clark County, Nevada, 49% of deaths among people experiencing homelessness were attributed to heat, compared to 7% in Los Angeles, illustrating how lethal outdoor heat exposure becomes when no indoor cooling refuge exists, NOAA research found. Use public cooling resources aggressively and without delay.

What to do during a heat dome warning when someone shows symptoms is the moment everything else either paid off or didn't.

Heat exhaustion is serious. Heat stroke is a medical emergency. The gap between them is measured in minutes.

Heat exhaustion presents as heavy sweating, cold or clammy skin, nausea, dizziness, weakness, and rapid pulse. Move the person somewhere cool immediately, have them lie down, apply cool wet cloths, and give water if they can drink.

Heat stroke is a different situation entirely. Signs include body temperature above 104°F, dry skin (sweating stops), confusion or behavior changes, fainting, and altered pulse, CDC guidance specifies. Call 911 immediately. Do not wait to see if the person improves. Body temperature can reach 106°F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes, and every minute without cooling increases the risk of permanent damage or death, per CDC preparedness messaging.

While waiting for emergency services: move the person to the coolest available location and apply ice packs to the neck, armpits, and groin if available. Do not give fluids to someone who is unconscious.

Gotcha: Heat illness can progress from fatigue to stroke in minutes at extreme ambient temperatures. Do not dismiss early symptoms as "just being hot." Seek care immediately at the first sign of confusion, fainting, or stopped sweating.

The steps above address the immediate situation. The broader context is that these conditions are not anomalies.

Extreme heat events have become longer, more frequent, and more intense across the U.S., and record-setting daily high temperatures have been outpacing record daily lows by roughly a 2-to-1 ratio since 1999, according to the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. The drought now covering more than half the contiguous U.S. is forecast to persist across the interior West, Southwest, and High Plains. The conditions that make heat dangerous are becoming the baseline, not the exception.

Key takeaways:

• Make your cooling plan before the first heat warning. Decisions made under heat stress are worse than decisions made in advance.
• Treat power outage preparation as inseparable from heat preparation the two risks compound, not add.
• Check on older adults and neighbors without air conditioning proactively, not reactively. Heat illness at home often goes unrecognized until it becomes a medical emergency.
• Bookmark Heat.gov and the NWS HeatRisk tool now. Use them every day during a heat event.