Southern California earthquakes and wildfires may have shock value, but for killing folks you can’t beat an old-fashioned heat wave or the bitter cold—a fact that means you might be more likely to die during extreme weather in Iowa than in the California region famed for it’s disasters.

The less-than-obvious conclusion comes from an examination of more than three decades of death data from two national databases, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. The results of that study, Spatial Patterns of Natural Hazards Mortality in the United States, found that more frequent disasters, such as extremes in heat or cold, flooding, and tornadoes, were responsible for more deaths that those that steal headlines.

"There is a public perception that the risk of dying in earthquakes and hurricanes is higher than that from everyday hazards," The Hazards and Vulnerability Research Institute’s Susan L. Cutter told the Times. "Most people say earthquakes are big events that kill lots of people, but they don't. The same is true for hurricanes."

Cutter and Kevin Borden fashioned the study using geographical and epidemiological methods, mapping deaths recorded between 1970 and 2004 in the Spatial Hazard Event and Loss Database for the United States (SHELDUS). Of the nearly 20,000 deaths, nearly 20 percent were caused by heat and 18 percent by winter weather.

The peer-reviewed report was published in the International Journal of Health Geographics Wednesday and is available online.