Kelly Turner, associate director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation (LCI), commented in an LAist story on a new tool to help people understand health risks they face from extreme heat. The California Communities Extreme Heat Scoring System, or CalHeatScore, is a pilot program that ranks risk from extreme heat by ZIP code into four categories — mild to severe. A ranking of “severe,” say the tool’s developers, could correspond with a higher temperature inland, as opposed to at the beach. “There’s so many mediating factors between a person, a hot day, and whether or not that person becomes ill,” said Turner, who is involved in evaluating the implementation of the tool. CalHeatScore is still in early stages of product development, but, said Turner, “It’s a stepping stone to the future in which heat warnings aren’t about the actual temperature threshold.” She explained, “They’re highly personalized — because exposure to heat and whether or not you get sick depends on factors that are more personal than universal.”
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Geography
Kelly Turner (she/her) is an associate professor of urban planning and geography and serves as associate director of the Luskin...
