Tuesday, August 07, 2018

The Extreme Heat Forecast Map


About two hours after posting yesterday's Map Mania post on extreme heat maps I discovered that the National Weather Service actually has an interactive map which forecasts potential heat risks for the next seven days. This new weather forecast map provides a quick overview of the potential heat risk for the upcoming week.

The NWS HeatRisk map uses a simple color scale to show the forecast of heat risk. Locations colored magenta on the map are where there is a 'Very High Risk' for the entire population due to a forecast of a long duration heat, with little to no relief overnight. Red indicate locations where there is a 'High Risk' for much of the population, especially for those who are heat sensitive and those without effective cooling and/or adequate hydration. Orange and yellow areas have a moderate and low risk respectively, while areas colored green have no elevated risk of extreme heat.

A simple day picker allows you to view the HeatRisk forecast for a specific day of the week. If you click on the map you can get a quick overview of the HeatRisk forecast for the next seven days at that location. This includes the maximum and minimum temperature for each day.

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