This summer’s heat hasn’t just been uncomfortable — data from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) shows it has led to an unusually high number of emergency department visits.
“So far this summer, we’re seeing more heat-related illness emergency visits than average, well above the average,” said Meredith Davis, an epidemiologist on VDH’s heat-related illness team. “Already this summer we’ve had more heat-related illness visits than we had for all of last summer.”
As of Aug. 12, there had already been 3,572 emergency department visits due to heat — higher than the average of 2,037 visits for this date, VDH data showed. This summer has already surpassed last year’s total of 3,242 visits, with about six weeks still left in the heat season.
Emergency department visits for heat-related illness
The heat season, as it’s measured by VDH, starts on May 1 and runs through Sept. 30. But it’s not just the raw numbers that are concerning — the rate of heat-related ED visits compared to total ED visits is climbing too.
As temperatures are rising around the world and the summers are getting hotter, it’s important to stay vigilant to the toll the heat is taking on everyone’s health. A recent study of California’s emergency department data concluded that extreme heat might lead to an increase in health issues and lead to more deaths by worsening pre-existing conditions, as the Washington Post reported.
“Heat does exacerbate other health conditions, because your body, especially your cardiovascular system and your kidneys, are working extra hard. So it’s adding an extra stress to your body as it’s trying to cool itself,” said Davis, who isn’t connected to the California study. “We do know that it exacerbates other conditions, and those aren’t necessarily going to be captured in our data that are focused on specifically heat-related illness.”
Last year, extreme heat was the leading cause for weather-related deaths in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. In Virginia, seven people died from heat last year and, as of July 3, there were three such deaths this year, according to data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner shared by VDH Public Information Officer Logan Anderson. There were more suspected cases under investigation, he said.
When it comes to ED visits, the data shows a mostly stable average — apart from this year.
Davis explained that in the last 10 years, VDH received data from more hospitals than they have in the past, which increases the total number of visits reported. So it is important to consider the rate of people visiting EDs with heat-related conditions compared to visits for other reasons.
Heat-related conditions include milder symptoms like fatigue, dizziness or heat-related cramps, and go all the way up to heat stroke — a condition in which the body can no longer regulate temperature — which can be deadly.
On average, heat-related health issues lead to 14.9 ED visits per 10,000 total ED visits. This summer, that number has climbed to 21.8, nearly double the average.
June stood out in particular. It was the worst of all months in the last 10 years of VDH tracking the data, said Davis. It drove roughly 1,720 people to the ED at a rate of 33.8 heat-related ED visits per 10,000 ED visits.
Charlottesville hadn’t escaped this trend either.
UVA Health’s emergency department saw an increase in heat-related visits along with the statewide trend, “but nothing too crazy,” said Andrew Muck, the chair of UVA Department of Emergency Medicine.
“We are seeing an increase. Elderly and unhoused persons specifically,” he told Charlottesville Tomorrow. He didn’t have the exact figures because diagnosis can be challenging and it affects clarity on the numbers, he said.
It’s unclear whether Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital also saw an increase, but their ED has also seen multiple patients with heat-related conditions this year.
“We have seen a number of patients with heat-related illness in the emergency department this summer, particularly those who work outside and who are vulnerable to heat illness. It is important to take frequent breaks, remain hydrated, and move to a cooler environment at the first sign of heat-related symptoms,” said Katherine Kimbrell, emergency department medical director at Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital in a statement.
Take action
Heat-related emergency department visits are have increased this year
The Virginia Department of Health has tips on how to protect yourself and others:
- Drink plenty of water.
- Stay indoors with air conditioning to take a break from the heat.
- Limit physical activity to the coolest time of the day — mornings and evenings.
- Wear sunscreen.
- Don’t leave kids and pets in cars.
- Check on others.
- Learn to recognize signs of heat-related illnesses.
What makes this summer’s surge particularly puzzling is that it’s not abnormally hot in terms of temperature, said Travis Koshko, chief meteorologist for CBS19News in Charlottesville. July was, on average, just 0.4 degrees above normal.
“So it wasn’t an incredibly hot July,” he said. June wasn’t abnormally hot, either.
The culprit might be humidity. It’s hard to say definitively whether this summer has been more humid than others due to the lack of long-term humidity data, but Koshko said anecdotally, it felt that way. And it has been a pretty wet summer, which contributed to humidity.
“It hasn’t been hot, but it’s felt hot,” he said.
This year, the area hasn’t hit 100 degrees yet. Last year, Charlottesville hit 100 degrees in July. Charlottesville’s all-time record is 107 degrees, which occurred four times, including once in September 1954.
But central Virginia isn’t out of the woods yet.
“August can still be very hot. We’ve had heat sometimes through the month of September,” Koshko said. “I don’t think we’re done with 90-degrees temperatures, not by a long shot.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Aug. 19, 2025, to correct the spelling of Andrew Muck’s name.
