NUKES: The Impact Of Nuclear Weapons Detonations On America’s Fifty Largest Cities
See the impact of a 1 megaton nuclear explosion on each of America’s 50 largest cities.
With the war in Ukraine still raging, and Russian leaders making continual references to their massive nuclear arsenal, our long denial distracted attention is once again unhappily returned to the existential threat presented by nuclear weapons.
It would be wise for us to take this opportunity to think more deeply about these weapons, for so long as they exist, everything we care about is at immediate risk.
One way to develop our understanding of this Biblical scale threat is to shift our focus from the big picture of a global nuclear war, an abstraction which is hard to wrap one's mind around, to a closer look at how a World War III scenario might affect each of us personally. Should we find the courage needed to examine our own personal risk situation, we'll find the following free tool quite useful.
Introducing NukeMap
NukeMap by Dr. Alex Wellerstein is a free interactive map which can demonstrate the effect of a nuclear detonation on any location. Dr. Wellerstein is a historian of science who specializes in the history of nuclear weapons and nuclear secrecy. You can explore more of his writings on his blog.
Once on the NukeMap page you can customize the display by choosing location, size of the nuclear weapon, and selecting any of a number of sophisticated options such as whether it is an airburst or surface detonation (and many other options).
Then you click the DETONATE button, and are shown a map displaying the effects of your selected type of detonation on your specified location.
The basic features of NukeMap are pretty easy for the average person to use, but making full use of all the provided options requires a considerable amount of detailed knowledge about nuclear weapons. Dr. Wellerstein is an expert on this subject, and so NukeMap has been designed to serve both the general public, and Dr. Wellerstein's professional peers.
A Simplified Version Of NukeMap
Given that few of us are nuclear weapons experts, and many visitors to this blog may prefer a quick look at the impact on the city where they live, you can follow any of the city links below to see a highly simplified impact map for each of America's fifty largest cities.
All of the following city maps come directly out of NukeMap, and all credit goes to Dr. Wellerstein.
The following list shows the estimated deaths in each of America’s fifty largest cities for a 1 megaton nuclear detonation. Other estimates for different scenarios can be obtained on the NukeMap site.
Albuquerque - 153,170 deaths
Arlington - 162,040 deaths
Atlanta - 234,870 deaths
Austin - 218,080
Baltimore - 343,250 deaths
Boston - 599,080 deaths
Charlotte - 161,210 deaths
Chicago - 609,140 deaths
Colorado Springs - 116,690 deaths
Columbus - 224,150 deaths
Dallas - 242,450 deaths
Denver - 274,750 deaths
Detroit - 249,890 deaths
El Paso - 43,620 deaths
Fort Worth - 150,690 deaths
Fresno - 34,430 deaths
Houston - 330,850 deaths
Indianapolis - 179,900 deaths
Jacksonville - 128,310 deaths
Kansas City - 145,090 deaths
Las Vegas - 297,630 deaths
Long Beach - 264,350 deaths
Los Angeles - 615,400 deaths
Louisville - 174,010 deaths
Memphis - 94,500 deaths
Mesa - 167,550 deaths
Miami - 257,360 deaths
Milwaukee - 252,920 deaths
Minneapolis - 312,760 deaths
Nashville - 158,820 deaths
New Orleans - 211,360 deaths
New York City - 1,838,530 deaths
Oakland - 264,910 deaths
Oklahoma City - 130,500 deaths
Omaha - 150,200 deaths
Philadelphia - 458,560 deaths
Phoenix - 221,330 deaths
Portland - 265,130 deaths
Raleigh - 136,800 deaths
Sacramento - 222,000 deaths
San Antonio - 215,930 deaths
San Diego - 278,040 deaths
San Francisco - 476,860 deaths
San Jose - 641,600 deaths
Seattle - 286,140 deaths
Tucson - 168,520 deaths
Tulsa - 132,770 deaths
Virginia Beach - 42,860 deaths
Washington D.C. - 549,100 deaths
Wichita - 124,160 deaths
TOTAL DEATHS for a one megaton nuclear detonation on all of America’s fifty largest cities is 14,012,260.
I'm a big fan of Nukemap and other efforts to remind humanity what's sitting out there waiting for a compound failure or cascading overreaction. Here's some context from last summer: Breezy Emergency Agency Video Host: "So There's Just Been a Nuclear Attack..." https://revkin.substack.com/publish/post/79691904