Technical Brief Summarizes Feedback and Next Steps for Memphis Heat Watch Team
A new technical brief from the Memphis CCHM team summarizes feedback received from community participants at a workshop held on February 20, 2026. Participants noted that a wide range of organizations in Memphis benefit from accurate heat data to do their work well. Participants also highlighted the importance of making data accessible, which includes literal availability of data as well as “interpretable across technical and non-technical audiences.” The report includes several “data to action pathways” and plans for further data analysis to identify long-term changes and short-term “easy wins.”
Memphis, TN Heat Watch Report
The Heat Watch Summary Report for Memphis, TN is now available on Open Science Framework. We are grateful to our CCHM partners CAPA Strategies for their time and expertise in preparing this report.
Heat’s Impact Uneven on Health, Finances - Memphis Flyer
“The maps indicate that throughout the day, heat concentrates in highly developed areas of Downtown Memphis, near the airport, and along major corridors such as Poplar Avenue, Jackson Avenue, Summer Avenue, Lamar Avenue, and East Shelby Drive, while cooler air is found at more heavily tree-canopied areas such as Overton Park as well as in the southwestern and eastern portions of the study area.”
For the first time, Memphis could see its heat on a map. Places with impervious surfaces — like asphalt and concrete — were hottest, of course. These were industrial sites, city centers, and Memphis International Airport. Places with lots of trees and shade, of course, were coolest — places like parks and those leafy suburbs out east.
Memphis Heat Map Reveals Neighborhoods Facing Severe Heat Burden
Last summer, Memphis volunteers turned their cars into mobile weather stations and proved what a lot of locals already suspected: some neighborhoods are cooking. The one-day, community-run Heat Watch campaign clocked a high of 102°F and found roughly a 14.4°F gap between the hottest and coolest parts of the city. Over the course of the day, 78 volunteers strapped sensors to vehicles and collected more than 131,000 measurements along 18 routes covering about 200 square miles, tracing both brutal hot spots and cooler, tree-shaded refuges. All of it is playing out against a steep local energy burden that leaves many households exposed to both health and financial strain when temperatures spike.
‘Pure Air in The Poconos’ study collects data on the air we breathe
A national conversation about air quality is now reaching the Poconos, as local groups take a closer look at conditions here at home. This new study, called “Pure Air in the Poconos,” is a partnership between Sanofi, the Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring, and the Pocono Mountains United Way.
A new study focused on air quality is underway in the Poconos. It aims to better understand how the air we breathe impacts everyone.
A national conversation about air quality is now reaching the Poconos, as local groups take a closer look at conditions here at home. This new study, called “Pure Air in the Poconos,” is a partnership between Sanofi, the Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring, and the Pocono Mountains United Way.
Life-saving research on extreme heat comes under fire
Missoula, Mont. is not known for sweltering temperatures. And yet heat waves are becoming more common in the mountainous region due to climate change, and researchers are concerned that a catastrophic heat event could soon shock the 120,000 or so people who call Missoula County home. Recent history reveals the cost of being unprepared for extreme heat; in 2021, the Pacific Northwest was caught off guard by the strongest heat wave the region had seen in a thousand years, resulting in more than 1,400 deaths. “We’ve come to understand that heat is a major threat to our region,” says Alli Kane, the Climate Action Program Coordinator for Missoula County. “And it’s something that we’re not prepared for.”
Heat mapping to strengthen resilience in the U.S. Virgin Islands
The Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring provided equipment and training to a group of Duke student researchers to conduct heat monitoring in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the summer of 2025. Read more.
Realizan el primer monitoreo de calor extremo en el suroeste de Puerto Rico
En la zona suroeste de Puerto Rico, se están realizando once rutas de monitoreo de calor, uniéndose a comunidades de Estados Unidos que llevan a cabo esta iniciativa en busca de medidas para mitigar los altos índices de calor.
Este proyecto utiliza sensores enviados por el Centro para el Monitoreo Colaborativo del Calor, instalados en vehículos que recorren municipios como Mayagüez, San Germán, Lajas, Sabana Grande y Cabo Rojo. Miren aquí.
Moab heat mapping to proceed after loss of federal support (Moab Times-Independent)
Moab will move forward with a community heat monitoring effort this summer to better understand how extreme heat affects neighborhoods, recreation areas and vulnerable residents. The project comes despite losing most of the technical support and equipment that was originally expected through a federally backed program. Read more at Moab Times-Independent.
Reps. Foushee, Lieu Lead Letter Opposing Cuts To Heat Mitigation And Resilience Planning Centers Of Excellence
WASHINGTON, DC (June 3, 2025) — Yesterday, Congresswoman Valerie Foushee (NC-04) and Congressman Ted Lieu (CA-36) sent a letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Acting Administrator Laura Grimm demanding the immediate restoration of the cancelled funding for the National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS) Centers of Excellence.
In 2024, the NOAA made landmark investments to establish the Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring, based at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC, and the Center for Heat Resilient Communities, led by the Luskin Center for Innovation at the University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) in Los Angeles, CA. In May, the Trump Administration made the decision to terminate a majority of the $4.55 million in funding contracts for these centers which help communities across the nation develop mitigation strategies and resilience planning. Extreme heat kills more Americans each year than any other weather-related event, and this grant termination will have a detrimental effect on Americans across the country.
The letter reads, in part:
“Extreme heat is a nonpartisan issue that affects all Americans. Rising summer temperatures put everyone at higher risk of heat-related illness or death. Whether you are living in an urban heat island, causing you to be more prone to the effects of extreme heat, or if you are living in a rural community that with fewer resources to address these problems, we must work together to develop comprehensive and community-oriented plans to mitigate the ever-compounding issues that arise from extreme heat.
We urge you to immediately reverse this cancellation and restore the full $4.55 million in funding for the NIHHIS Centers of Excellence and to honor the obligations made to protect Americans from the dangerous effects of extreme heat.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.