2020 Heat Mapping CAMPAIGN Data & REPORTS
This story map created by HARC explores why H3AT was formed, how the 2020 campaign was conducted, and provides a high level analysis of the results.
>>> We recommend starting here if you are unfamiliar with the campaign!
Discover Houston and Harris County's hottest places mapped during our 2020 heat mapping campaign. Type your address into the map and explore different map layers (observed temperature, or "traverse points"; modeled temperature; and modeled heat index), for the morning, afternoon, and evening of August 7, 2020. No ArcGIS subscription required.
For advanced, licensed ArcGIS Online users to more broadly interact with the results, bring in additional data layers, perform analyses, or pull these layers into other new or existing web maps.
Download Raster and Traverse Data from the 2020 Heat Watch campaign in Houston & Harris County.
Suggested Citation: CAPA/NIHHIS. (2020, December 3). Heat Watch Houston & Harris County. Retrieved from osf.io/yqh5u
This report was prepared by CAPA Strategies for the H3AT campaign and includes more information on key takeaways, methodology, and other campaign efforts.

This one page executive was prepared by H3AT partners to summarize the H3AT campaign.
Updates and milestones from the 2020 Heat Mapping Campaign are included in the One Year Report of Resilient Houston
CIty of Houston HEAT initiatives
For more information, see City of Houston's Chief Resilience Officer website
H3AT is featured in the City of Houston's resilience strategy as sub-action 16.1: Launch an urban heat island mapping campaign, to make Houston neighborhoods greener and cooler to combat extreme heat.
The City of Houston’s Mayor’s Office released the Houston Climate Impact Assessment, to better illustrate how climate change will impact Houston’s future based on lower and higher scenarios of future climate change. The assessment, conducted by Anne Stoner and Katharine Hayhoe of ATMOS Research & Consulting, studied 25 separate future climate indicators, including the number of days with temperatures above 100 degrees, the number of nights above 80 degrees, total annual precipitation, days with precipitation above 4 inches, and the annual number of dry days.
Extreme Heat Takeaways: By 2050, if we do not curb our greenhouse gas emissions globally, we can expect...
the hottest day of summer will be 7 degrees warmer than today,
there will be 22 more days that exceed 100°F,
there will be 50 more nights that exceed 80°F, and
summers overall will be 55 days longer than today.
HARRIS COUNTY HEAT INITIATIVES
Harris County Public Health's Climate Program
Their Extreme Heat Vulnerability Assessment is the first of several climate vulnerability assessments the Climate Program has planned. Communities with the most exposure, the highest population sensitivity, and the least ability to adapt will be identified as the highest priority for public health interventions.
The Climate Program also developed a Heat Vulnerability Story Map that provides information about the vulnerability assessment process and why they looked at certain indicators.
Explore Heat Vulnerability Assessment Results here!
Learn how the Climate Program is using H3AT campaign data here!
For more information, see Harris County Public Health's Climate Program website
harc's heat Initiatives
A Vegetative View: Mapping Harris County's Tree Canopy
The A Vegetative View: Harris County, Texas web-based mapping application was developed by HARC to visualize high-resolution vegetation canopy data. Use this application to explore where vegetation is present as well as how dense and tall it may be.
Learn more here.
New Research Study to Build on H3AT Data
The Desert Research Institute (DRI) and the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) announce the launch of a comprehensive extreme heat risk modeling project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study and predict the risk of extreme heat within coastal communities.
Related research, Projects, and case studies
Live Map of Local Temperature via Synoptic's Data Explorer
Houston Region Heat Research and Tools
NCAR's SIMMER project: Modeling of Extreme Heat Risk in Houston, TX
NCAR's HOME AIR project: Extreme Heat and Ozone in Houston, TX
Houston Area Urban Heat Reduction and Relief Activities
City of Houston and Reliant's annual Beat the Heat relief program
Reconstruction of Bagby Street in Houston, TX featured in Urban Land Institute's Scorched: Extreme Heat and Real Estate Report (2019)
Tree Strategy Implementation Group - helping to implement the Resilient Houston Plan’s 4.6 Million new native Trees by 2030 Goal
Urban Heat Health Resources
Heat.gov - National Integrated Heat Health Information System (NIHHIS)
Planning for Urban Heat Resilience (American Planning Association)
World Bank's Primer for Cool Cities: Reducing Excessive Urban Heat – With a Focus on Passive Measures