Content created by Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH)
Climate and Health Outlook | November 2024
Welcome to the twenty-seventh edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides forecasts for drought and wildfire in November 2024 as well as how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards plus hurricanes and dust storms; there are also stories featuring climate resilience hubs, winners of the HHS Environmental Justice Community Innovator Challenge, and an opportunity to comment on a NIOSH draft hazard review document on wildland fire smoke exposure among farmworkers and other outdoor workers. This webpage includes additional resources and information excluded from the PDF summary, including regional prospective forecasts.
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Climate and Health Outlook | October 2024
Welcome to the twenty-sixth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides forecasts for heat, drought, and wildfire in October 2024 as well as how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards along with hurricanes and other climate hazards on the rise in the Fall. This webpage includes additional resources and information excluded from the PDF summary, including regional prospective forecasts.
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Climate and Health Outlook | September 2024
Welcome to the twenty-fifth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides forecasts for heat, drought, and wildfire in September 2024 as well as how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards along with hurricanes, severe inland storms, flooding, Vibrio, and mosquito-borne diseases. This webpage includes additional resources and information excluded from the PDF summary, including regional prospective forecasts.
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Climate and Health Outlook | August 2024
Welcome to the twenty-fourth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition provides forecasts for heat, drought, and wildfire. It also includes recommendations and resources to protect health from these hazards plus tornadoes, hurricanes, severe inland storms, flooding, and Vibrio. This edition additionally features stories on farmworkers' pesticide exposure, the new CDC/OCCHE Heat and Health Index, and a look at this heat season compared to 2023.
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Climate and Health Outlook | July 2024
Welcome to the twenty-third edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides forecasts for heat, drought, and wildfire in July 2024 as well as how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards along with tornadoes, flooding, and hurricanes. This webpage includes additional resources and information excluded from the PDF summary, including regional prospective forecasts.
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Climate and Health Outlook | June 2024
Welcome to the twenty-second edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides forecasts for heat, drought, and wildfire in June 2024 as well as the 2024 hurricane outlook. It also discusses how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards along with tickborne diseases and conditions, tornadoes, flooding and pollen. Stories on the new UNMC Drought and Health Messaging Framework, an NYC cooling system distribution partnership, and protecting agricultural workers from wildfire smoke exposure are also featured. This webpage includes additional resources and information excluded from the PDF summary, including regional prospective forecasts.
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Climate and Health Outlook | May 2024
Welcome to the twenty-first edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides forecasts for heat, flooding, drought, and wildfire in May 2024 along with how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards. This edition also provides information on how climate change is influencing Valley fever and pollen. This webpage includes additional resources and information excluded from the PDF summary, including regional prospective forecasts.
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Climate and Health Outlook | April 2024
Welcome to the twentieth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides forecasts for heat, flooding, drought, and wildfire in April 2024 along with how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards. This edition also provides information and stories on well water considerations in times of drought and flooding plus a look at how climate change is influencing pollen. This webpage includes additional resources and information excluded from the PDF summary, including regional prospective forecasts.
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Climate and Health Outlook | March 2024
Welcome to the nineteenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming months by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides information and stories on the behavioral health impacts associated with climate hazards along with forecasts for March 2024.
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Climate and Health Outlook | February 2024
Welcome to the eighteenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). Check out this edition to learn about: how 2023’s climate-related health hazards of heat, hurricanes, wildfires, drought, and vector-borne diseases compare to prior years; how the HHS emPOWER Map was used to help protect at-risk individuals during historic winter storms of early 2023; and your region’s forecast for drought and winter weather in February 2024 along with how to protect yourself and others’ health from these climate hazards.
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Climate and Health Outlook | December 2023
Welcome to the seventeenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of drought, and for the first time, winter weather. Check out this edition to learn your county’s risk for winter hazards along with how El Niño is forecasted to act alongside long-term trends (due in part to climate change) to impact seasonal temperatures and precipitation in your region. You can also learn about LIHEAP’s new eligibility tool, how to prepare for winter storms, how to protect outdoor workers this winter, and how to recognize and respond to frostbite and hypothermia.
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Climate and Health Outlook | November 2023
Welcome to the sixteenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of heat, wildfire, drought, and hurricanes and provides information on how to reduce health risks associated with each. It also features findings from a survey of Californians on their health impacts from climate change, an overview of why wildfire smoke is a public health concern, and a feature on alpha-gal syndrome.
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Climate and Health Outlook | October 2023
Welcome to the fifteenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of heat, wildfire, drought, and hurricanes and provides information on how to reduce health risks associated with each. It also features findings from new research on heat-related illness increasing among Veterans and peat bog wildfire smoke’s association with cardiopulmonary emergency department visits.
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Climate and Health Outlook | September 2023
Welcome to the fourteenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of extreme heat, wildfire, drought, and hurricanes, as well as Malaria and Dengue. It also shares information on how to reduce health risks associated with each of these climate hazards, including resources for preventing mosquito bites as well as preparing for and recovering from hurricanes. Given the extreme heat and wildfires we’ve seen this summer, the Outlook also explores the new EMS HeatTracker tool as well as takeaways from analyses on the health impacts from the Canadian wildfires and California’s 2022 Labor Day Weekend Heat Wave.
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Climate and Health Outlook | August 2023
Welcome to the thirteenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of extreme heat, wildfire, drought, and hurricanes, as well as West Nile virus. Give the extreme heat and wildfires we’ve seen this summer, we also explain the meaning of the increasingly discussed term “Wet Bulb globe temperature”, medications that can increase the risk of heat-related illness, and important measures to prevent heat-related illness for outdoor workers.
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Climate and Health Outlook | July 2023
Welcome to the twelfth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of extreme heat, wildfire, drought, and hurricanes. Given the climate hazards we’ve already seen this year, the Outlook also looks back on record-setting heat in May (the third warmest May on record) and how pediatric health experts at the New York-based Region 2 Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit responded to wildfire smoke in June. In July, 438 counties across 32 states are estimated to have more than five expected extremely hot days. An ‘extremely hot day’ is when the daily maximum temperature is above the 95th percentile value of the historical temperature distribution in that county.
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Climate and Health Outlook | June 2023
Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of hurricanes, dengue, extreme heat, wildfire, and drought. 2023 is predicted to be a near-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico, and an above-normal hurricane season in the central Pacific, which includes Hawai’i and the Pacific Islands. The Outlook features information on the relationship between hurricanes and dengue, a viral disease spread to people through the bite of infected Aedes species mosquitoes. Mosquito populations commonly decrease during and immediately following hurricanes, and then grow rapidly due to the environmental conditions present, as was seen approximately two weeks after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
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Climate and Health Outlook | May 2023
Welcome to the tenth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of tickborne diseases, extreme heat, spring flooding, pollen, wildfire, and drought. May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month and an estimated 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease each year. In areas of the eastern United States where Lyme disease is common, people are most likely to be bitten by blacklegged (deer) ticks during two times of the year: from April through July when nymphs are active, and again from September through November when adults are most active. The Outlook also features information on pediatric heatstroke prevention. Between 1998 and 2022, a total of 937 children died due to heatstroke when left in a vehicle alone, with an average number of 37 deaths each year. Three tips to remember: never leave a child in a car unattended, make it a habit to look in the backseat every time you exit, and always lock the car and put the keys out of reach.
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Climate and Health Outlook | April 2023
Welcome to the ninth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of spring flooding, extreme heat, pollen, wildfire, and drought. It is the first time the Outlook has included spring flooding. This spring season, approximately 146 million people are at risk for flooding in their communities, with nearly 6.4 million at risk for moderate flooding and 1.4 million at risk for major flooding. Regarding pollen, springtime activity continues to be ahead of schedule. The start of spring has appeared the earliest in 40 years in parts of Texas, Arkansas, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.
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Climate and Health Outlook | March 2023
Welcome to the eighth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of pollen, wildfire, and drought. It is the first time the Outlook has included pollen. So far in 2023, the start of springtime activity has been up to three weeks ahead of schedule in the southeastern states and over four weeks ahead of schedule in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The start of spring has appeared the earliest in 40 years in parts of Texas, Arkansas, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York.
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Climate and Health Outlook | February 2023
Welcome to the seventh edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This edition provides a seasonal outlook for the climate-related health hazards of wildfire and drought as well as summary of 2022 wildfire activity.
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Climate and Health Outlook | November 2022 – January 2023
Welcome to the sixth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). This Climate and Health Outlook provides a retrospective look at how heat and drought affected the U.S. in the summer of 2022. It examines where heat was abnormally high in 2022, how heat-related illness in 2022 compared to previous years, and how one federal program and state Medicaid agency responded. The Outlook also explores drought levels across the U.S. in the past year. In addition to this retrospective information, the Climate and Health Outlook also includes prospective forecasts for November 2022 – January 2023.
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Climate and Health Outlook | September 2022
Welcome to the fifth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming month(s) by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition provides a seasonal outlook for the climate-related health hazards of wildfire, drought, extreme heat, hurricanes, and Lyme Disease.
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Climate and Health Outlook | August 2022
Welcome to the fourth edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming month(s) by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition explores the climate-related health hazards of wildfire, drought, extreme heat, and hurricanes.
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Climate and Health Outlook | July 2022
Welcome to the third edition of the Climate and Health Outlook from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE). The Climate and Health Outlook is an effort to inform health professionals and the public on how our health may be affected in the coming month(s) by climate events and provide resources to take proactive action. This edition expands beyond extreme heat to include additional climate-related health hazards including wildfire, drought, and hurricanes; information on how hurricanes affect health; and a comparison of heat-related illness observed thus far in 2022 to the previous three years.
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Climate and Health Outlook: Extreme Heat | June 2022
This edition focuses on the months of June-August, 2022 and uses the most current long-term temperature forecasts that come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to illustrate how extreme heat poses a health risk for all Americans. It gives estimates of which U.S. counties are expected to experience extremely hot days and identifies the vulnerable populations in those counties that could be impacted by heat exposure. It also provides a set of actionable resources from HHS that are targeted to the public, specific populations, health care professionals, and public health officials to reduce health risks from heat.
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Climate and Health Outlook: Extreme Heat | May 2022
As our climate changes, extreme heat events will become more frequent, longer lasting, and more severe. Using temperature projections from NOAA and other partners, this outlook draws attention to the parts of the country and populations at higher health risk from extreme heat exposure. It also provides actionable information and resources from the Department of Health and Human Services for individuals, healthcare professionals, and public health officials to take proactive action that can reduce risk.