Extreme heat is already the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States. In Illinois, summers are getting longer, hotter, and more dangerous to residents’ health.
In Illinois, annual average temperatures have climbed more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1895. More than 1.7 million Illinois residents—about 13.5 percent of the state population—lived in counties that experienced more than nine extreme heat days per summer from 2007 to 2016. DOWNLOAD PDF>