Man's death may be from heat exhaustion

A man who died Thursday morning while working in a field near Oasis may have succumbed to heat exhaustion, an official said.

Riverside County sheriff's deputies were called to a field off of Pierce Street, between avenues 73 and 74, about 6:48 a.m. regarding a man who passed out.

He was dead upon their arrival, sheriff's Deputy Angel Ramos said.

There were no signs of foul play and officials are investigating the cause of death.

“He was working with other people in the field and he collapsed for unknown reasons,” Ramos said. “We believe it's heat-related, but obviously we're going to wait for the coroner to do their thing.”

The area is in a rural area west of 86 Expressway, between Mecca and Oasis.

Temperatures in the area reached 88 degrees just before 7 a.m., but it may have felt like 93 degrees, AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Edwards said, due to significant humidity levels.

Although temperatures were much lower than the triple digits that scorched the desert earlier this week, 93 degrees is still warm enough to kill someone, he said.

It may all depend on a person's age, stamina, weight and amount of clothing.

Regardless, “if you're talking about the high 80s, and it feels like it's in the 90s, it can certainly cause problems,” Edwards said. “It's warm enough that it's not hard to have heat-related issues.”

The high temperature on Thursday was 96 degrees in Palm Springs and 99 degrees in Thermal, according to AccuWeather.

A trace of rain was registered across the desert at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m.

High temperatures are expected to surpass 100 degrees across the desert this weekend with a chance of rain and thunder.

“As we go into the weekend, it's still going to remain hot, but humidity is also going to remain high,” Edwards said.

The humidity should be gone by Sunday, paving the way for dry heat through next week.

The normal high for July is 108 degrees, but Edwards expected next week's temperatures to only reach 106 degrees.

Colin Atagi is a reporter for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at (760) 778-4645 or colin.atagi@thedesertsun.com