Changes in weather and climate can affect our health in many ways. The Missouri Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program shares data and information related to changes in the weather and climate in Missouri.
What's the Difference between Weather and Climate?
The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what is happening in our atmosphere over a short period of time. Climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over longer periods of time. An easy way to remember the difference is that climate is what you expect to happen, like a very hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a hot day with pop-up thunderstorms.
Health Impacts of Changes in Weather and Climate
Experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) say changes in our country's climate include higher temperatures, changes in rainfall, and more extreme weather. Many places have seen longer and more frequent heat waves and changes in rainfall, leading to more floods and droughts. These changes can affect our health and create economic and public health challenges.
- Heat - Higher temperatures, higher humidity, and longer and more frequent heat waves can cause more heat-related illness and deaths each year.
- Extreme heat can affect anyone.
- Extreme heat can worsen diseases like asthma, COPD, or heart disease.
- Extreme heat can put stress on pregnant women and cause babies to be born early.
- Extreme heat can cause heat stroke and is the deadliest weather hazard in the United States.
- Rain: More rain and heavy downpours can cause more floods in some areas.
- Wet weather and floods can cause mold growth, which can worsen allergies and asthma.
- Floods can increase the growth of bacteria in streams, lakes, and well water that can cause waterborne diseases.
- Floods are the second deadliest weather hazard in the country (after heat stress), mainly due to drowning.
- Air Pollution: Warmer temperatures can increase the formation of ozone in the air we breathe at ground level. Also, smoke particles from wildfires can affect air quality nearby or even hundreds of miles away.
- Air pollution can harm your lungs and worsen diseases like asthma, COPD, or heart disease.
- Air pollution can cause higher risk of babies being born early.
- Pollen and Mold: Warmer temperatures and changes in rainfall can increase the growing seasons for plants or increase the amount of pollen and mold they release into the air.
- Pollen and mold can cause allergy symptoms and worsen asthma.
- Ticks: Warmer temperatures can help ticks and their animal hosts survive the winter. This can cause an increase and spread in numbers of ticks.
- Ticks can cause tick-borne diseases.
Data Related to Weather and Climate
Heat-Related Illness Emergency Department and Hospitalization Data
Missouri EPHT – Heat-Related Illness Query
Search this query to find:
Annual numbers of emergency department visits and hospitalizations
Annual crude rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations, per 100,000 residents
Annual age-adjusted rates of emergency department visits and hospitalizations, per 100,000 residents
Heat and Cold-Related Death Data
Weather and Climate Data
DHSS - MO Health Data – Map Room
Use this tool to find data on:
Temperature (historical) – annual and monthly average maximum and minimum temperatures
Temperature (historical) - changes in average temperatures
Precipitation (historical) – annual, monthly, 5-year, and 10-year average precipitation amounts
Precipitation (historical) - changes in average precipitation
Precipitation (predicted)
Flood – change in magnitude and frequency of river floods
Drought - intensity and number of weeks in drought
Weather-related disaster declarations
Active weather alerts
Other Data Sources
Other data sources share additional data related to weather and climate.
The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Program
Missouri Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) is a program within the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EPHT is part of a network of people and information systems which delivers a core set of health, exposure, and hazards data, information summaries and tools to enable analysis, visualization and reporting of insights drawn from data. Those insights are intended to help data drive actions and improve community health.