Extreme heat on Independence Day will be America's new normal, experts say
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Extreme heat could be a mark of many Independence Days in the future, experts say. Climate change, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, is making heat waves hotter and longer. The average number of heat waves in the U.S. has doubled since the 1980s.

"It's not an anomaly. It's a preview," said Michael Rawlins, associate director of the Climate System Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

What do the numbers say?

On July 4, a large portion of the Eastern U.S., from New York to Georgia, had "extreme" rates of emergency department visits for heat-related illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's daily heat-related illness tracker .

At least 40 deaths have been reported by local officials in connection with the heat wave: 29 in New Jersey , 3 in New York, 4 in Philadelphia, and 4 in Illinois.

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