New online dashboard tracks weather-related health incidents in Washington state

January 02, 2025 / 1:48 pm

caption: Smoke from the Sumner Grade fire is visible on Wednesday, September 9, 2020, along Sumner Tapps Highway East in Sumner, Washington.

Washington state health officials are paying closer attention to heat- and cold-related illnesses, smoke exposure, and several other seasonal hazards.

The Department of Health has launched a public dashboard tracking weather-related health incidents using data reported by hospitals across the state. The aim is to help residents and agencies make smarter, more timely decisions when it comes to severe weather.

The dashboard, which provides county-by-county data, tracks motor vehicle crashes, carbon monoxide exposures, asthma-related emergency room visits, drownings, and even injuries from recreational boating.

The latest data shows that over the past week, 1.3% of King County hospital visits have been from cold-related exposure, such as hypothermia or frostbite, which is similar to the rates this time last year.

The new dashboard comes after a series of extreme weather-related deaths across Washington in recent years.

At least seven Seattleites died in January 2024 from hypothermia related to an extreme cold snap that moved through Western Washington. In June 2021, a deadly heat wave killed an estimated 1,200 people across t he Pacific Northwest, 400 of those deaths being among Washingtonians. Temperatures in Washington reached an all-time high of 120 degrees Fahrenheit at the height of the week-long heat dome.