Citywide heat map released

July temperatures nearly 17 degrees higher in some areas

On one of the hottest days of the summer, some neighborhoods in Albuquerque were almost 17 degrees warmer than others.

That’s what the Urban Heat Watch Campaign, conducted on July 9, found. The city last week released a report detailing the results of the campaign, which consisted of 65 volunteers traversing Albuquerque roads and trails with heat sensors attached to their cars and bikes.

The sensors measured temperatures at 67,662 points along 18 routes to create a highly detailed map of the city.

Temperatures ranged from 62 degrees to 78 degrees in the morning and 94 degrees to 105.9 degrees in the afternoon, according to the report by Climate Adaptation Planning and Analytics Strategies . The biggest temperature differential was 16.9 degrees.

Albuquerque was one of nine cities participating in the project to map urban heat islands over the summer. Officials say New Mexico has had an increase in heat-related hospitalizations over the past decade, and they expect the numbers to double again in the next 10 years. Unhoused and low-income residents are often the most at risk.

“Differences in temperature can be attributed to lack of tree canopy and shade coverage, in addition to concentrations of asphalt,” said Maia Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the city’s Environmental Health Department. “Areas showing high concentration of heat are anticipated to align with the locations of lowincome communities, future iterations of the mapping results will be compared with social equity indicators.”

She said Downtown and areas along some of the interstate corridors are some of the hottest places.

“The city is working on developing a more interactive version of the maps released in the report to be able to compare with social vulnerability indicators to (home) in on ‘hot spots’ in the city,” Rodriguez said.

She said the city will use the heat map and other data as a tool “to prioritize tree planting efforts as well as other projects to implement more shade cover.”

ROBERTO E. ROSALES/JOURNAL Maggie Fitzgerald, the community liaison for the Environmental Health Department, attaches a sensor to her vehicle to record the temperatures around the city in July. A map based on data she and others collected was published last week.