Oregon Health Authority: Extreme Heat and Smoke Surge Over Two Decades

Oregon is now experiencing four times as many days of simultaneous extreme heat and wildfire smoke as it did twenty years ago, according to a new analysis from the Oregon Health Authority.

For Kelly Juarez, who moved from Reno, Nevada, to Linn County about two years ago seeking a cooler environment, the reality hit immediately. The week she arrived, temperatures soared to 95 degrees while her home’s air conditioning unit failed. The situation became a potential health issue for her daughter, Sissy, a 22-year-old with a heart condition requiring temperatures of 75 degrees or less to avoid serious health impacts. The family was forced to seek refuge with local friends until the heat passed.

This personal struggle mirrors a broader, systemic shift documented in the Oregon Health Authority’s Climate and Health report for 2025. By comparing data in five-year increments from 2006 through 2025, the agency found that the frequency of hazard days hasn’t just increased—it has accelerated.

The compounding math of heat and smoke

The report shows that extreme heat and wildfire smoke are no longer isolated events; they are increasingly overlapping. Between 2006 and 2010, Oregon averaged 12 days of extreme heat and 11 days of wildfire smoke per year. By the 2021–2025 period, those numbers jumped to 22 heat days and 33 smoke days.

The most dangerous metric, however, is the overlap. Two decades ago, heat and smoke coincided on average just two days a year. Now, that number has quadrupled to nine days annually.

Climate Hazard (Avg Days/Year)	2006–2010	2021–2025	Trend
Extreme Heat Days	12	22	Doubled
Wildfire Smoke Days	11	33	Tripled

The stakes are highest for those in Southern, Central, and Eastern Oregon, where rural communities bear the brunt of the highest temperatures. The report highlights that 2025 was the third warmest year since record keeping began in 1895. A particularly brutal spike in June 2025 broke early-season temperature records, catching the population before they had adapted for the summer, which contributed to a spike in heat-related illnesses, including emergency room visits for heatstroke, and nine recorded heat-related deaths in 2025.

A generational crisis of anxiety

The physical toll is accompanied by a psychological one. The state’s data shows a disturbing trend among the youth, who are witnessing the acceleration of these hazards in real-time. In a statewide survey of 11th graders, 71% reported experiencing stress about the future due to climate change, with nearly 40% stating these feelings have negatively impacted their lives.

“It’s not a wonder that it’s on their minds,” Goldfarb said. “I think it’s on the minds of a lot of people, and so it’s showing we can’t really shield our youth from that.”

The struggle to adapt the housing stock

The “so what” of this data manifests in the home. For low-income families, a broken AC unit isn’t just a nuisance—it’s a health hazard. The solution being pushed by the state is the transition to heat pumps, which are more energy-efficient than traditional air conditioners, reducing strain on the power grid and lowering monthly bills.

Between 2024 and 2025, the program reached 481 households across 25 counties.

Ben Brint, senior climate program director with the Oregon Environmental Council, argues that the current pace of change requires an “all-hands-on-deck” approach. He emphasizes that the responsibility cannot fall on a single agency but must involve the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon, county health authorities, and community organizations working in lockstep.