Towns get new survival guide as Maine predicts spike in extreme heat

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 29, 2026

Dangerous heat days are likely to increase two- to four-fold across Maine by 2050, forcing towns and cities to reconsider how workers and aging and homeless residents survive increasingly volatile summers, according to a state health report released Friday. The extreme temperature survival manual predicts a sharp rise in the number of life-threatening days with a heat index of 95 degrees or more by 2050. In Lewiston, five dangerous days a year will likely turn into 15. In Portland, four dangerous days will likely become 13.5. Officials are now urging Mainers to think like a “hot-weather state” without lowering their guard against a winter likely to be more volatile than in years past.