A multi-agency investigation of Heat and human Health relationships in the state of Vermont: Towards actionable science.

Abstract:

This talk focuses on an assemblage of work conducted primarily between the Vermont State Climate Office and the Vermont Department of Health for better understanding, communicating, and anticipating the impact which elevated air temperatures have, and my have in the future, on public health. This is an example in how several agencies, spanning scientific fields and levels, can all play roles in in producing important understanding and actionable consequences in the face of health risk. This talk starts with an investigation of the relationships between Vermont health statistics and daily maximum air temperature with a focus on the temperatures where the health statistics changed most rapidly with temperature changes, or "changepoints". The results of this investigation suggested that meaningful temperature changepoints exist below 90F. The local WFO considered a day as "hot" when it reached or exceeded 90F unless the day was particularly sunny and humid. Discussions with the local National Weather Service Forecast Office were productive and led to some rethinking of how they consider a "Hot" day. The changepoints information was also incorporated into a health impacts report prepared by the Vermont Department of Health for the CDC's Building Resilience Against Climate Effects, by utilizing climate indices tailored to a temperature less than 90F. This work stands as a demonstration that the co-production of knowledge can produce actionable science.