Record high temperatures are making headlines across the country this summer. According to the MN Department of Health, extreme heat events in Minnesota "are expected to become more common, more severe, and longer-lasting as our climate changes."
In spring 2023, a team of students in a Master of Urban and Regional Planning capstone course at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs worked on an RCP project about extreme heat, in partnership with Eric Wojchik and Ellen Esch at the Metropolitan Council. The resulting storymap, Keeping our Cool: Understanding extreme heat across the Twin Cities region, documents how excessive heat impacts public health and natural systems, as well as its equity and human health considerations. The project serves as a storytelling companion to the Council’s Extreme Heat Map Tool, which allows city planners and residents to explore the huge variance in surface temperatures in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.