Factors relating to extreme heat accounted for 491 deaths and more than 3,500 emergency room visits, according to Clark County officials, as Las Vegas this year has broken several grim records.
As Southern Nevada experienced its hottest year on record in 2024, the number of people who died in the Las Vegas area due to factors relating to heat also reached a new high, according to the Clark County Coroner and Medical Examiner’s office.
Approximately 491 heat-related deaths were reported to the agency this year, as of Dec. 1, a spokesperson confirmed to The Nevadan. The overall tally, however, could be higher because of the time it takes for the coroner’s office to fully investigate a death.
This summer was the hottest on record in Las Vegas, according to the National Weather Service, with the average high temperature reaching 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit — about 6.7 degrees hotter than the benchmark. Southern Nevada also set a record with 27 days setting new-high temperatures, as well as records for the most consecutive days above 115 degrees (seven), and an all-time heat record of 120 degrees set in July.
“This extreme heat is killing a record number of people every year,” Democratic Nevada US Rep. Dina Titus — whose district includes the Las Vegas Strip — told reporters Wednesday during a virtual press conference hosted by the progressive advocacy group Battle Born Progress. “We need to be sure that our communities have the resources to address this problem.”
Titus is also the ranking member of the US House committee on transportation, which coordinates with federal bodies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and is urging colleagues to advance legislation she’s crafted that would allow FEMA to respond to bouts of extreme heat like other natural disasters.
And even though officials from the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump have signaled publicly that funding cuts to federal agencies like FEMA could help reduce government spending, Titus said she believes mitigating the emerging threat of extreme heat will be a bipartisan issue.
“We have people from all parties impacted by extreme heat,” Titus added. “[The heat] does not see political divisions.”
An estimated 239 people died in July alone, according to an October report from the Southern Nevada Health District detailing heat-related casualties. That report differs slightly from the coroner’s office tally, but acknowledged 475 heat-related deaths throughout Clark County, a 60% increase over the 296 fatalities attributed to heat in 2023.
Of those who died, about 23% (109) were non-Clark County residents, and extreme heat was the reason for more than 3,500 emergency room visits, according to the report. Nearly 78% of victims were age 45 or older, and substance use was involved in 56% of total cases reported to the health district.
At least 30 deaths had been reported in two Southern Nevada zip codes alone — downtown Las Vegas’ 89101 and 89030 in North Las Vegas, the report additionally states. Among the 475 reported by SNHD, 266 (56%) of the victims were white; 108 (22.7%) were Black; and 52 (10.9%) were Hispanic.
Even throughout October, Southern Nevada continued to surpass previous historical highs, according to the weather service. A high of 104 on Oct. 3 smashed the previous record set in 1978, and daily high temperatures surpassed 100 degrees five times. For comparison, there were only six October days over 100 in Las Vegas between 1937 — when the agency first started chronicling temperatures —and 2023, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
Accompanying the extreme heat has been an extended drought.
The weather service posted to social media on Monday that it has not measured rain in Las Vegas for 148 days, the second-longest such streak since the agency began keeping records in 1937.
That record — 240 days — ended Dec. 16, 2020.
Last month, the Nevada Division of Industrial Relations (NDIR) adopted a statewide regulation to mitigate heat-related illness on the job and will direct certain employers to evaluate and implement plans to minimize exposure to extreme heat. The rule doesn’t go into effect until next year, but makes Nevada just one of six states in the US to have some sort of heat exposure standard.
During Wednesday’s virtual press conference, Roberto Renteria, a Las Vegas-area landscaper, said the new rule was long overdue, but hopes lawmakers can continue to carve out more extreme heat protections once the legislative session begins in February.
“This measure remains largely reactive, addressing the harm only after it occurs,” Renteria said through a Spanish translator. “We cannot ignore the fact that extreme heat is a public health crisis affecting those who are already vulnerable.”
