Heat-related deaths have topped 30 fatalities in Maryland for the first time in more than a decade.

This year, 34 people across Maryland died from heat, data from the state Department of Health shows. That’s an uptick from the past five years, when the number ranged from six in 2022 to 27 last year.

The last time 34 people died in Maryland due to the heat was 2011, according to the health department. The following year, a derecho roared through the Midwest and mid-Atlantic states, knocking out power to millions in Maryland at the onset of a heat wave. Heat was attributed to 46 deaths, a record high.

The state figures also show that emergency room and urgent care visits and EMS calls surpassed 1,600 for the first time this decade, with most coming from Baltimore City and the counties of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard.

The city and Baltimore County had the most heat-related deaths, with eight and six fatalities, respectively, data shows. Montgomery and Prince George’s counties followed, with three each.

The summer of 2025 got off to a concerning start, with nine people dying due to heat in the first week of the season. The number included a 6-month-old girl who died while locked inside a hot car in Harford County.

Marylanders had to endure a heat dome at the beginning of the summer, prompting Gov. Wes Moore to declare a “State of Preparedness” that required the Department of Emergency Management to ready responses to any impacts of high temperatures.

The rise in heat-related deaths in Maryland parallels rising temperatures as a result of climate change that experts warn will only worsen. Heat-related deaths in Maryland this past summer were likely driven by high humidity compounded by high temperatures, experts said.