Excessive heat warnings issued by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) were compared to their public attention using data provided by Google Trends. Results show that 50 percent of heat wave attention occurred while the excessive heat warning was active, rather than prior to the event. Heat wave attention correlated positively with NWS excessive heat warnings but varied between climate regions, with the highest significant correlation value for the Southwest region of the United States. Severity was also shown to affect the amount of attention an event receives. There was a positive correlation between heat wave severity and heat wave attention. The Southwest’s attention was most affected by severity, and the South’s attention was least affected. The results of this research suggest that when there is an excessive heat warning active within the United States, the odds of searching for heat waves are 5.39 times greater than when there are no active warnings. When there is a warning issued within the same state of search origin, the odds of searching for heat waves are 3.45 times greater than when there are no NWS-issued warnings.