{"id":435896,"date":"2026-03-31T14:56:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=435896"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T12:56:06","slug":"new-study-finds-warming-saves-livescold-temperatures-12-times-more-deadly-than-excess-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=435896","title":{"rendered":"New Study Finds Warming Saves Lives\u2026Cold Temperatures 12 Times More Deadly Than Excess Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From No Trick Zone<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Kenneth Richard<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because cold temperatures are so much more dangerous to human health than warmth, a modest 0.5\u00b0C warming could save over 10,000 lives per year in the US.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A\u00a0new study<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0indicates that from 2000 to 2020 there were\u00a06,129<\/strong>\u00a0annual deaths attributable to excess summer heat across 1,514 US counties (representing 91% of the United States\u2019 adult population).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heat-related deaths receive the vast majority of media attention due primarily to the assumption that humans can control the temperature of the ocean and surface air by emitting more or less CO2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the real health risk \u2013 even in wealthy countries like the US \u2013 is not \u201cglobal warming,\u201d but exposure to cold temperatures in winter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This same study reveals there were\u00a072,361<\/strong>\u00a0deaths per year attributable to exposure to 21st century cold temperatures in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, cold winter temperatures are associated with 12 times more deaths (40.1 deaths per 100,000 person-years) than deaths linked to excessive heat (3.4 deaths per 100,000 person-years).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the US has continued to have \u201cextreme winter events\u201d in the 21st century and \u201cunusually cold winter snaps\u201d in the South, the \u201ccold related deaths in the US have increased by 9% per year over the past two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-optimal temperature-related deaths have been increasing, with\u00a0cold<\/em>\u00a0non-optimal temperatures far more deadly.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Image Source:\u00a0de Oliveira Salerno et al., 2026<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Interestingly, a Google search using the data from this study and a hypothetical 0.5\u00b0C increase in mean annual US temperature indicates, per AI, that this modest warming could potentially save \u201cseveral thousand to over 10,000 lives\u201d per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image Source:\u00a0AI via Google<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because cold temperatures are so much more dangerous to human health than warmth, a modest 0.5\u00b0C warming could save over 10,000 lives per year in the US.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":435908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691842095,691842094,691842092,691842093],"class_list":["post-435896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cdcs-social-vulnerability-index-svi","tag-minimum-mortality-percentile-mmp","tag-minimum-mortality-temperature-mmt","tag-social-vulnerability-index-svi","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0-Social-vulnerability-and-mortality-attributable-to-non-optimal-temperature-in-the-United-States.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1PoA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":439045,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=439045","url_meta":{"origin":435896,"position":0},"title":"Cold Kills: Massive U.S. Study Finds Cold Weather Causes 20 Times More Heart Deaths Than Heat","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/12\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A new large-scale U.S. study, presented at the American College of Cardiology\u2019s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.26) in March 2026, reinforces a long-standing pattern: cold temperatures pose a far greater mortality risk than heat, particularly for cardiovascular health. 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