Your heat story

As climate change worsens, extreme heat becomes more frequent and more intense. Cities get even hotter because of the urban heat island effect. But even within New York City, some areas are hotter than others.

Heat can harm people’s health and more than 500 people die from heat-related causes each year in New York City. But these health impacts are not distributed equally; historic patterns of discrimination and disinvestment create disproportionate public health impacts from heat. For example, death rates are higher among Black New Yorkers and in neighborhoods with more residents living below the poverty line.

In this heat story map, explore personal stories about how heat affects New Yorkers, contextualized through citywide data on air quality, air conditioning access and more. Building upon the original initiative Heat story, which was developed by Columbia University and South Bronx Unite (with new stories from South Queens Women’s March, Queer Disability Aid, and Fountain House) this project continues the map’s mission of humanizing the impacts of heat by going beyond the data. The map also includes hyperlocal temperature data, collected by SBU, WE ACT, and community boards.

Explore New Yorkers' heat stories

Community science data

Citywide data

Add layers

Submit your heat story

How does heat affect you in your home, your neighborhood, and your life?

Submit a story here - tell us how heat affects your life. You can even upload pictures of your home, neighborhood, park, or anything else that helps illustrate your story. You can add your name, or remain anonymous - it's up to you.

We'll review submissions and add some of them to this map. We'll only include whatever details you choose to share with us.

Stories featured in the South Bronx and northern Manhattan were collected in partnership with South Bronx Unite, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and CBOs 9-12. Stories featured in South Queens were collected in partnership with South Queens Women's March. These areas were selected because they are vulnerable to the health risks of extreme heat due to economic, racial, and social inequities.

Hyperlocal data vs citywide data

This heat story map features data collected across New York City and hosted on the Environment and Health Data Portal about air quality, air conditioning access, neighborhood poverty, and more. You can explore each dataset more thoroughly through our Data Explorer. The map also features a limited amount of data collected in northern Manhattan and the South Bronx because of the parameters of the original study. These hyperlocal data layers were generated through the community science approach described, and provide valuable insights into block-level differences at different times of day.

Using a community science approach, the data collection process was led by residents living in areas most affected by heat. On Saturday July 24, 2021, these community scientists traversed along 10 different one-hour long routes with heat sensors on their cars or bicycles. These Type T Thermocouples sensors fired off every second and captured block-by-block differences in heat and humidity while using GPS to track geospatial data.

Data collection took place during three windows: morning (6am–7am), afternoon (3pm–4pm), and evening (7pm–8pm) in northern Manhattan and the South Bronx. Local organizations South Bronx Unite, WE ACT for Environmental Justice, and Community Boards 9–12 in northern Manhattan worked together to design the routes around areas of concern to residents. These included intersections, bus stops, common corridors of activity, as well as public housing.

How do the methods and results differ from other projects?
  • Measures outdoor air temperature: Previous models have been based on satellite data, which record the temperature of the ground itself. This project measured air temperature and humidity at the pedestrian level, which is at the height people actually feel heat.
  • Finer spatial resolution: These map outputs are in higher resolution (one meter–10 meters), meaning a finer spatial resolution than most public satellite products related to land surface temperature and air temperature. These more granular maps are more conducive to designing targeted local mitigation efforts.
  • Mobile data collection: Data was collected in real time across several different locations, while most existing air temperature data is collected in one stationary location.
  • Captures variance throughout the day: Data collection occurred multiple times in the day (morning, afternoon, and evening) to capture how heat may vary throughout the day.
Additional resources and references include Kemuning A. Adiputri's story map on heat prostration shows historic heat victims across the study area between 1880-1940, using point addresses gained through historical newspapers in a randomized arrangement. This map aims to understand a pattern of reported heat victims (not to incorporate all victim data throughout history) to give a better understanding of the possible underlying factors."

This project, "Addressing the Urban Heat Island Effect through an Equity Lens: A Community Science Project,” combines community science with interviews to create a way to look at heat vulnerability that focuses on the intersections of extreme heat, health, and social inequities.

This project was part of a nationwide campaign from the NIHHIS (National Integrated Heat Health Information System) and jointly developed by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). The NYC campaign partnered with South Bronx Unite and was funded by NOAA and Columbia University’s Earth Frontiers Grant. Data collection and analysis were the result of a partnership with CAPA Strategies.

You might also be interested in:

NYC Heat-Related Mortality Report
The urban heat island effect in NYC
Interactive Heat Vulnerability Index

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