Weather events such as tornadoes, floods and hurricanes get a lot of attention from the media and the public. But none of these was responsible for the highest weather-related death toll ever in our area. That dubious distinction belongs to a heat wave that was peaking around this time in 1993.

For ten straight days that July, the high temperature hit 94^oF or above, with three days topping out at 100^oF or higher. Just as important, the temperature never fell below the mid 70s at night during that ten-day stretch, and on three nights didn't even drop below 80^oF. And these "official" readings were taken at the airport - it was even warmer in the major cities. With high humidity pushing the heat index above 100^oF each day, more than 100 people in the Philadelphia area died from heat-related causes.

The sobering lesson here is that although floods, tornadoes, and strong thunderstorms are more dramatic and may strike quicker, high heat and humidity potentially pose the biggest weather-related health hazard.