Hello all, and welcome to our Urban Heat Island Mapping digital community! We hope this space can provide a platform for interaction amongst all citizen scientists and SERCC team members. Please feel free to comment below on the findings, your experiences doing data collection, questions, or anything else.
Wow! It has been an amazing summer so far, with 13 days of data collection and more than 50 routes conducted across Orange County and South Durham! Thank you so much to every one of you who has gone out and collected data by walking, biking, or driving.
Now that the data has been collected from the field, Andrew has been working diligently to clean the data and create the wet bulb globe temperature model, and I am excited to share some of those maps with you today! For this blog post, I am going to highlight our hottest day of data collection yet, June 27th!
On June 27th, the maximum WBGT value calculated in Durham was 97.4°F, and in Chapel Hill it was 96.1°F. These are both far above the threshold of 90°F for a Black Flag Warning, which calls for an immediate cancellation of outdoor activity and has a heightened risk for heat-related illness.
The maps below show the air temperature, solar radiation, and wind speed recorded on June 27th, all factors that contributed to the extreme WBGT values we saw on that day.
Orange County
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South Durham
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Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Flag Warnings
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Orange County |
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These maps show that on June 27th, most of South Durham was experiencing Black Flag conditions, and in Orange County, several areas were in Black or Red Flag conditions. This means a majority of the population across these two areas were in areas that put them at a heightened risk for heat-related illness. These maps can reveal the physical environments that contribute to heat exposure and heat-related illness, but pre-existing medical conditions (COPD, asthma, diabetes, etc.), age, and daily habits can further heighten this risk. Even lower flag warnings can have major health implications for community members.
Is there anything surprising about these maps? Please share your thoughts below!