Projects
Summer 2026 Northern Virginia Heat Data Collection Campaign
Clarendon neighborhood in Arlington County, Virginia. Photo by Alex Korolkoff on Unsplash.
The Challenge
Heat risk is on the rise, and Virginians are already feeling the impacts. High temperatures and humidities can lead to heat stress, heat stroke, and in some cases, serious injury. Urbanized neighborhoods are particularly vulnerable to dangerous levels of heat due to a lack of trees and other natural features that have been shown to significantly reduce temperatures. Extreme heat also stresses infrastructure and built environments critical to Virginians’ daily lives such as the energy grid and transportation systems.
The Project
The Virginia Climate Center is collaborating with the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions (FACS) to collect temperature data across select regions in Northern Virginia and identify hot spots where extreme heat poses danger to public health and infrastructure. A network of local volunteers organized by FACS will traverse select regions by car, bike, and foot collecting real-time temperature and humidity data using state-of-the-art sensors.
After collection, the data will be processed, analyzed, and available to decision makers for the purpose of heat mitigation planning and identifying hyper local hot spots vulnerable to the impacts of extreme heat.
The Summer 2026 Northern Virginia Heat Data Collection Campaign will occur on a day with a sustained daily high temperature of 90° or more to accurately capture data during an extreme heat event. VCC experts will monitor local forecasts and announce commencement of data collection through VCC’s email list and social media channels once a timeline is identified.
Who’s Involved?
This work is led by VCC heat expert Luis E. Ortiz in close collaboration with the Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions and a network of community volunteers.
