Heat-related illnesses were a factor in 15 deaths this summer, the lowest number since 2009, according to state health officials.
The tally is less than a third of heat-related deaths last summer.
As one might expect, the statistics correlate with the heat of any given summer. This year's meteorological summer, from June through August, was the coolest at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport since 2009.
Twenty six days this year have reached 90 degrees or hotter at BWI, down from 45 days last year.
Heat-related illnesses include heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Deaths are added to the toll if the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determines either of those illnesses, or other weather-related factors, played into a person's death, though the victims typically suffer from underlying health conditions that make them more prone to heat-related illnesses.
Here are the state health department's tallies of heat-related deaths going back a decade:
2003: 3
2004: 4
2005: 47
2006: 39
2007: 20
2008: 14
2009: 5
2010: 24
2011: 34
2012: 46
2013: 15