Over 1100 cattle have died in South Dakota in the last few days due to high temperatures and humidity. This is certainly not the first or even the worst event of its kind. Some are saying they were caught off guard, but warning signs are common. For the most part, only confinement cattle are being affected despite extremely high temperatures all over cattle range lands in the US and Canada.
posted by limmer on Jul 26, 2007 - 17 comments

In the summer of 1995 there was a week-long heat wave in Chicago. Over 700 people died. Most of them were the elderly, poor, and African-Americans. Link above is a Slate article by Eric Klinberg who wrote the definitive Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (2003) in which he concludes that "a city, in its decision to operate like a corporation, experienced the breakdown of massive social services" and the resulting "widening cracks in the social foundations of America's cities".
posted by stbalbach on Sep 9, 2005 - 20 comments

washington post editorial mocks european heat wave via the newly reskinned dangerousmeta.com
and vis a vis the thousand of deaths (primarily the elderly) and fires attributed to the heat wave. is there an especially warm place in hell reserved for the author? and who might it be?
posted by specialk420 on Aug 15, 2003 - 80 comments