Clark County Public Health is identifying the county’s hot spots. Not the hot spots that are the best places to grab dinner or spend a night on the town, but actual hot spots.
On Friday, 40 volunteers from Public Health and CAPA Strategies, an environmental consulting firm based in Portland, spent the day driving across Clark County. The effort is part of CAPA Strategies’ Heat Watch program, which helps cities, counties and other jurisdictions collect heat-mapping data.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the county,” said Amy Koski, program coordinator with Public Health. “It’s an opportunity for us to collect map data and map the different areas throughout Clark County that are most impacted by high temperatures.”
It’s well known that urban areas often experience higher temperatures than rural places. Dark, paved surfaces absorb heat. Add to that the hot exhaust from heavy traffic, and a lack of grass, trees or other green spaces, and urban areas can make already hot days even warmer.
In 2023, the nonprofit Climate Central completed a study of 65 cities across the U.S. and found that 1 in 10 Americans — about 34 million people — live in places where concrete, asphalt and buildings pushed temperatures up by an average of 8 degrees compared with rural spaces.
“We know that extreme heat is becoming more severe, and it’s becoming more severe in Clark County, as we experienced in just the last week,” Koski said. “They’re happening more often and lasting longer and growing in intensity.”
To collect the data, each volunteer driver completed one of 17 designated routes. Each route took one hour to complete. The routes ranged from Woodland to the north; Yacolt to the east; the north central cities of Battle Ground, Ridgefield and La Center; Camas and Washougal to the southeast; and areas around Vancouver, such as Hazel Dell.
A sensor was attached to the passenger’s side window of each car. The sensor scanned the air and took temperature readings while also collecting GPS data. Each driver was accompanied by a navigator who monitored the equipment.
To get a detailed picture of temperatures in the county, readings were taken at three different times of the day: 6-7 a.m., 3-4 p.m. and 7-8 p.m.
“We know that heat impacts different parts of our community differently. We want to better understand what’s really happening on the ground. This gives us a much more granular level of detail,” Koski said.
Using the data
But Public Health isn’t collecting the data just for the sake of collecting data. There are practical reasons, as well.
“It will help us understand where those hottest and coolest places are in our community, how different neighborhoods and communities might be more impacted and start to come up with strategies for working with the communities,” Koski said.
Koski said having the data will allow Public Health to identify where resources such as cooling centers and misting stations are needed, where to put water distribution centers, and where to encourage planting trees, grass and other greenery.
It will also help refine other services, such as providing air conditioners to at-risk people — older residents, young children or those with medical conditions.
“Heat-related deaths and hospitalizations are preventable. Yet, we know we have had some deaths, unfortunately, in Clark County,” Koski said.
In 2023, she said local hospitals reported 106 emergency room visits for suspected heat-related illnesses. During the 2021 heat dome, when temperatures reached well over 100 degrees, there were 11 heat-related deaths in Clark County.
“It’s important for us to be able to tailor what we can do to help these communities and different individuals who are most impacted,” Koski said.
Clark County won’t be the only agency with access to data, once it is compiled and analyzed.
“It’s for the community, our other jurisdictions like the cities, nonprofits, other community organizations,” program coordinator Lauren Henricksen said. “It’s not something that Public Health is going to be able to solve.”
Henricksen said Public Health’s goal is to share the data, both inside and outside of the county, so it can partner with others to develop solutions. While the data should be compiled within the next few months, it may take a little longer before it’s released publicly. However, Koski and Henricksen said the data will be made public.
