Philadelphia recorded its first heat-related death this year during last week's heat wave, when temperatures were in the 90's over two days.
What we do to measure heat-related death is look at the long-term baseline, the average.
That was the system used to determine the 15,000 heat-related deaths in 1980.
That compares with 95 heat-related deaths in all of the previous 12 months.
It made the finding after studying the 118 heat-related deaths reported by Philadelphia's health department last year.
The city's first two heat-related deaths were reported on Saturday.
The police said they had no reports of heat-related deaths but expected some to occur.
Since the 1990's, other cities like Chicago have made that calculation, because it can provide a more complete picture of heat-related deaths.
There is no Federal definition of a heat-related death, in which experts say the heat wears down the bodies defenses.
But he acknowledged, "Not every heat-related death is manifested by heat stroke."