Advancing scientific understanding of climate, improving society’s ability to plan and respond
Advancing scientific understanding of climate, improving society’s ability to plan and respond
The project will build on outcomes from NOAA’s community-led field campaigns, which have helped engage the Burlington community and have produced critical hyperlocal temperature information. But cities, and Vermont’s smaller cities and communities in particular, need more tools and resources to help them determine the most effective and efficient solutions tailored to their needs.
To learn where action is needed to protect vulnerable populations now and in the future, CPO’s National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) and partners are launching new community-led campaigns that will map the hottest parts of cities in 11 states across the country this summer. The communities include Albuquerque, New Mexico; Atlanta; New York City; Charleston, South Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Raleigh & Durham, North Carolina; San Diego; San Francisco; and parts of New Jersey, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Virginia.
The successful community science campaign leveraged NOAA leadership and scientific rigor with the additional organization of local community and government groups to compile a heat dataset that can be used to minimize extreme heat risk in cities across the country.
Residents of the Carolinas are familiar with hot summers, but in some areas excessive heat events bring a higher risk for heat-related illness—and even death. A new tool can help local communities get ahead of heat events so they can reduce risk for their residents.
A new set of visualizations and analytical tools to understand, prepare for, and respond to extreme heat and its human health impacts (including economic impacts), has been prepared as an ESRI Story Map, developed in cooperation with NOAA and the NIHHIS Interagency Working Group. The story map includes a number of powerful tools which can also be used as stand-alone analytical web apps. The collaboration will continue, and the tools will be refined over time. The story map will be unveiled officially at the upcoming GEO Plenary in Washington DC, the week of 23 October 2017, and we encourage any and all with interest in climate and health to attend the open sessions and side meetings on Monday and Tuesday of that week – particularly the GEO Health Community of Practice on Tuesday afternoon. For more information on the GEO plenary, visit: http://www.earthobservations.org/geo14.php
Many outdoor workers get uncomfortably warm during the hot days of summer. As employers are responsible for providing a safe workplace, they need to know when uncomfortable becomes unhealthy.
Predictions for the summer of 2017 show most of the contiguous United States has elevated chances for warmer-than-average temperatures. The summer outlook map and other forecasts in this Web app can help outdoor workers and their supervisors understand heat hazards, keep workers safe and productive, and even save lives.
Schools are letting out, Memorial Day is nearly here, and for many Americans that means the unofficial start of summer. And if it’s summer, then it ‘s time to start paying attention to the risk of extreme heat. According to NOAA’s summer outlook, most of the United States is favored to have a hotter than average summer in 2017. Only in the Great Plains do forecasters think the chances for a cool or a normal summer are equal to the chances of a hot summer. Everywhere else—from Alaska to southern California, and from Maine to Texas—odds are tilted toward well above average warmth. The absolute highest chances for a much warmer than usual summer are in Hawaii. (see the large version of the map below for Hawaii and Alaska.
Climate models predict an increase in the frequency, severity, and length of heat waves in coming decades. Federal, state, and local agencies are working to provide more advanced warnings and services to help health care workers, social services providers, and the general public better prepare for and respond to extreme heat events.
An executive summary of the National Integrated Heat Health Information System workshop in July, 2016 outlines outcomes and recommendations for different aspects of heat health resilience in the El Paso-Juárez-Las Cruces Region.
Heat waves bring some level of discomfort to nearly everyone. When excessive heat catches vulnerable populations off guard, though, discomfort can advance to illness and even death. Learn about strategies that help protect people in both rural and urban settings.