NORFOLK, Va. — You’ve heard of red hot, but magenta hot? Well, that’s a color many of us may see this summer as the National Weather Service and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have introduced a brand-new tool to help warn people of excessive heat.
The new Heat Risk tool uses a multi-category ranking system for the risk from heat, from no or minor impact to major and extreme.
Magenta is the worst, and deadliest, of the five heat threat categories, which would be a long-duration extreme heat event with little relief.
Below that category is red, which would indicate major issues from heat exposure. It would be used when a day is in the top 5% of hottest days in a particular location for a particular date.
At the bottom of the list is pale green, representing little to no risk. Yellow is a minor risk, indicating heat would be most dangerous to the very young, old, sick and pregnant.
Orange is a moderate risk, mostly affecting people sensitive to heat, especially those without cooling, such as the homeless.
Heat is by far the number one cause of weather-related deaths in the United States, causing an average of 1,200 deaths a year, according to the CDC. Last year was the hottest year on record globally.
People can visit either the CDC HeatRisk site or the National Weather Service HeatRisk site and enter their ZIP code or zoom in on a map to find their risk for the next seven days.