Mapping the Twin Cities hottest neighborhoods
Extreme heat has been the number one weather-related cause of death in the U.S. for the last three decades. This summer, Ramsey and Hennepin counties were chosen to participate in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2024 Urban Heat Island Mapping Campaign to map the hottest neighborhoods in 14 U.S. communities and four international cities.
The goal of the project is to understand urban heat islands, which are urban areas where the temperature can be significantly higher due to larger areas of concrete and other surfaces that radiate heat along with less tree canopy and green space to mitigate the heat.
On July 27, Ramsey and Hennepin counties partnered with volunteer community scientists to gather data. Using sensors mounted on their vehicles, 72 volunteers drove specific routes through Ramsey county, measuring temperature and air quality. Hennepin County's volunteers did the same.
This data—along with community feedback, analysis and modeling—will be used to help protect people living in the hottest areas by developing hyper-local descriptions of where the hottest parts of neighborhoods are and will inform strategies to reduce the health impacts of extreme heat.
Learn more about Ramsey County's climate action work.
Watch a video showing the data-gathering process.