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.