Hacker News Reader

Take a look at what happened earlier in the summer in Portland. Extreme heat events are becoming more common in places where homes often don’t have air conditioning.

Also, I feel like this should go without saying but the climate has changed perceptibly since 1999 and will continue to get warmer for the foreseeable future, so relying on past trend lines like this is a mistake.

View on HN

> Take a look at what happened earlier in the summer in Portland. Extreme heat events are becoming more common in places where homes often don’t have air conditioning.

This is true, but even in Portland, which is regarded as having one of the lowest rates of air conditioning in the nation, three out of four homes have it. We experienced around 100 deaths statewide (getting an exact count eludes me, as recently as three days ago NPR put it at 83, though earlier reports put it over 100) due to the heat wave.

As long as we can keep the power going, Portland can probably find practical ways to keep the death toll very low in future heat waves. I'm guessing we will get an opportunity to test that.

I think the go comment is kinda of like the infamous slash dot review of the iPod: “I don’t think heat deaths will be a thing in the next decade” - uh huh

Reply on news.ycombinator.com