Housing Conditions Exacerbate the Effects of Extreme Heat in Rural America

It’s not just the cities. Extreme heat is a growing threat to rural America.

Summer has officially begun with a blast of scorching temperatures across much of the United States. The National Weather Service is warning of “extremely dangerous heat” baking 160 million people under a heat dome stretching from the Midwest to the East Coast the rest of this week. It’s already proven fatal. But while this is the first real taste of extreme heat for Northeastern cities, parts of the country like Texas have been cooking since Ma…

Housing Conditions Exacerbate the Effects of Extreme Heat in Rural America

Editor’s Note: This post is from our data newsletter, the Rural Index, headed by Sarah Melotte, the Daily Yonder’s data reporter. Subscribe to get a weekly map or graph straight to your inbox. This time of year I get into the habit of working all day from my porch underneath the canopy of a Duke blue (gross) umbrella that my partner despises because, according to her, it’s ugly and takes up too much space. But I cherish my porch time. And I’ll d…