April 1, 2023

Yes

The Gonzaga Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment led a community effort to better understand how extreme heat affects different neighborhoods and different individuals by constructing maps of urban heat island and connecting them to demographic factors through a correlation analysis. This research reveals that extreme heat events affect not only the unhoused, but also many thousands of people across large segments of the Spokane community. Not all regions or demographics in Spokane are equally affected by extreme heat. Differences in green space and the built environment mean that some people are more likely to be in danger during future extreme heat events.

Corrina Farho (Gonzaga University), Ben Brown
(Gonzaga University)

Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment (Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA)

Henning, B.G., K. Ducken, K. Honebein, C. Farho, B. Brown, 2023. “Spokane Beat the Heat: Correlations of Urban Heat with Race and Income in Spokane, WA.” Report prepared by the Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA. https://doi.org/10.33972/ccse.2023.01