Heat waves are getting worse in the Philadelphia region

Data: EPA ; Note: New York City, Houston, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Denver are excluded for incomplete data in this period; Chart: Axios Visuals

The Philly region remains in the grip of a heat wave with temps forecast to reach 100 Tuesday and stick in the high 90s on Wednesday.

The big picture: Heat waves in the Philadelphia metro are becoming longer, more frequent and more intense, per new data from the EPA .

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Why it matters: Human-caused climate change is likely fueling this trend and it's only going to get worse.

State of play: The length of heat waves in the Philly region ticked up an average of two days from 1961-2023, per the EPA.

• Meanwhile, the region has added an average of four more heat wave events per year during that period.
• Philly had its first heat-related death of the summer on June 27, per the Inquirer .

Zoom out: Updated EPA data shows the upward march of heat waves in the 50 largest metro areas across the U.S. between 1961 and 2023.

• New Orleans saw the most significant change in the length of its heat waves by 2023 (4.5 days), followed by Fort Worth, Texas (4), and Salt Lake City (3.7).

How it works: EPA tracked events of two or more consecutive days when daily, humidity-adjusted temps topped the 85th percentile of historical July-August temps in 1981-2010.

What we're watching: This summer in the Philly region could be one of the nation's hottest summers on record .

Go deeper: Read the full EPA analysis