Lead: Radley Horton
Counselors: Ning Lin, Bob Kopp

This sub-project is focused on characterizing heat hazards and impacts in the current and future climate. While most prior analyses have been univariate, in the sense that they focus on air temperature alone, this sub-project includes multivariate dimensions. Specifically, we are looking at combinations of heat and humidity as expressed through metrics like wet bulb temperature, and at sequences of storms and humid heat.  Multivariate approaches to heat stresses are increasingly being requested by stakeholders in the MACH region (including NYC and Philadelphia government) since they have outsized impacts on both infrastructure and vulnerable communities. For example electricity demand spikes during humid heat events, increasing the risk that the most vulnerable will not have access to cooling precisely when it is most essential for their health and well-being. Interactions between humid heat and storms, which are poorly understood and could change with climate change, can further modulate these non-linear linkages between vulnerable populations and critical infrastructure.