Bombardier crj captain reported a shatter windshield associated with a 'windshield overheat' message...

Narrative:

While on our descent into ZZZ; we noticed a very fine hairline crack in the left windshield. After looking at it for a few seconds; we then saw that it was visibly growing. This was followed immediately by a 'left wshld heat' caution message. It was the first officer (first officer) leg; so I reached down for the QRH. After about 30 seconds; there was a loud 'pop' sound. I looked up to see that the left windshield was completely shattered. I ran the non-EICAS QRH for a shattered windshield. It was not clear to me if the core ply or inboard ply was shattered; so opted to choose 'yes' when I reached that question to be conservative. We informed ATC of the situation; I felt I had sufficient control over the cabin altitude and cabin pressure differential pressure. They assigned us 10;000ft (as I recall) and asked if we needed lower yet. We responded 'negative' and were able to descend via the rest of the aldan 1 RNAV arrival. As we descended below 8;000ft; I was able to complete the QRH. The first officer landed the aircraft with no problem. I finally had a chance to notify [operations and maintenance] after blocking in.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Bombardier CRJ Captain reported a shatter windshield associated with a 'WINDSHIELD OVERHEAT' message and a passenger medical emergency during descent.

Narrative: While on our descent into ZZZ; we noticed a very fine hairline crack in the left windshield. After looking at it for a few seconds; we then saw that it was visibly growing. This was followed immediately by a 'L WSHLD HEAT' caution message. It was the First Officer (FO) leg; so I reached down for the QRH. After about 30 seconds; there was a loud 'pop' sound. I looked up to see that the left windshield was completely shattered. I ran the non-EICAS QRH for a shattered windshield. It was not clear to me if the core ply or inboard ply was shattered; so opted to choose 'Yes' when I reached that question to be conservative. We informed ATC of the situation; I felt I had sufficient control over the cabin altitude and cabin pressure differential pressure. They assigned us 10;000ft (as I recall) and asked if we needed lower yet. We responded 'negative' and were able to descend via the rest of the ALDAN 1 RNAV arrival. As we descended below 8;000ft; I was able to complete the QRH. The FO landed the aircraft with no problem. I finally had a chance to notify [operations and maintenance] after blocking in.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1506556
Time
Date	201712
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.TRACON
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Component
Aircraft Component	Cockpit Window
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Person 2
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness

Bombardier crj captain reported a shatter windshield associated with a 'windshield overheat' message and a passenger medical emergency during descent.