New Experimental Heat Alert System Developed by UW Alumnus
NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a new experimental approach toward identifying upcoming dangerous heat events. Michael Staudenmaier ’91, MS’93 was the program lead for this 10-year project, which expanded from a prototype in the Western U.S. to now cover the entire CONUS region. This approach, called HeatRisk, places upcoming heat into local climatological context along with incorporating heat health statistics from the CDC to identify the levels of heat that are most dangerous. Working with his small team, Mike developed this novel approach initially to provide a more consistent and scientifically based approach for the state of California, before expanding it across all eight Western states. As the approach matured, additional heat health data and peer-reviewed science findings were added to the methodology. This approach is the first CONUS-wide available high resolution (2.5 km) heat alert system to incorporate not only meteorological data, but also actual heat health data, in an easy to understand and communicate color/number system. This approach is supplemental to official NWS heat products and is meant to provide risk guidance for those decision makers and heat-sensitive populations who need to take actions at levels that may be below current NWS heat product levels.
More Alumni Notes
Eric E. Lampard PhD’55, former director of the UW’s graduate program in Economic History (1959–70) passed away in April 2023 at the age of 100. Dr....