UNMC study reveals major heat disparity in parts of Omaha
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - When someone checks the weather for Omaha, it may not be the real temperature they’re experiencing. They may be in what researchers call an “urban heat island” or a pocket of the city that’s hotter than others in part because of pavement and lack of shade from trees.
UNMC researchers have identified these islands in Omaha after analyzing data collected two years ago. In August 2022, the university deployed heat capturing technology around Omaha from the Missouri River to around Boys Town.
Dr. Kristina Kintziger, Claire M. Hubbard Professor of Health and Environment, explained why this data is valuable.
“What this project allowed us to do in 2022 was to get hyper-local data. Micro-environment data,” she said. “Across the Omaha areas there was almost a 10 degree Fahrenheit difference in the temperatures that we were recording at the same time. That’s a very big difference to people who have underlying health conditions that can be impacted by heat. Who are more vulnerable to the effects of heat.”
Maps show that the hottest parts of Omaha were in downtown, where there is little tree canopy and high development. But researchers also used the temperature data to compute a vulnerability to heat score. That score factors the temperature but also the health data and demographics of that area.
It was no surprise, for researchers at least, that the parts of Omaha most vulnerable to heat were the ones that had been historically disenfranchised by the now-illegal practice of redlining. Redlining is where banks withheld financial resources to areas with black and brown people. But their study found something else concerning about these areas: “They have fewer cooling centers within walking distance. Have less ability to implement those mitigation measures like tree canopy because of the way they have been developed,” said Kingziger.
In a report that they’re still finalizing but they showed 6 News preliminary results of, a map indicates five red dots where there are those with the highest vulnerability to heat. All five of them are in North Omaha. The blue dots on the map are the closest cooling centers. Besides one, the others are not within walking distance of the red dots.
Kintziger said addressing this disparity will take creativity.
“These are opportunities where we can work with the city work with nonprofit organizations around Omaha.”
They’re working to find and secure funding to cool down the hottest parts of the city by adding trees, sheltered bus stops, and cooling centers. The funding they’re exploring, said Kintziger could come from public or private souces. Researchers with UNMC are also part of the City of Omaha’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan (CARP).
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