B-Cool Summer 2024 Temperature Sensor Pilot Preliminary Results
January 24, 2025
Left to right: Isabella Gambill (A Better City), Julia Howard (The Boston Foundation), Dr. M. Patricia Fabián (Boston University), Jonathan Lee (Boston University), Yirong Yuan (Boston University), and Zoë Davis (City of Boston). Photo Credit: Megan Jones (Boston University)
On Wednesday January 22 A Better City was thrilled to share the preliminary results from our B-COOL Summer 2024 Temperature Sensor Pilot, led by A Better City, the Boston University School of Public Health, the City of Boston’s Office of Climate Resilience, and The Boston Foundation. The pilot deployed 15 temperature sensors across heat island hotspot neighborhoods last summer to determine differences in lived heat experiences and to fill data gaps in neighborhood-specific temperature data.
Building upon the work of Boston’s Heat Plan and the Wicked Hot Boston project, the B-COOL pilot confirms significant temperature differences across neighborhoods in Boston. The B-COOL results further clarify that many hotspot neighborhoods are reaching advisory or emergency conditions earlier and for longer durations than the National Weather Service Station at Logan Airport.
During one declared heat advisory event in summer 2024, there were several sensors that recorded hotter temperatures, breaking the heat emergency threshold, whereas one of our cooler sensor locations never reached heat advisory or emergency conditions for that timeframe. This indicates significant differences in where heat advisory or emergency conditions are being felt across the city (differences both within and across neighborhoods), and for how long neighborhoods are exposed to high heat, compared to the alerts based on the temperature data collected from the National Weather Service station at Logan Airport.
Key takeaways include:
- The hottest neighborhoods include Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Mattapan, and Roxbury, with additional high heat exposure in Allston-Brighton and parts of Jamaica Plain. Environmental justice neighborhoods and communities of color experience higher heat and longer durations of extreme heat during heat events than surrounding neighborhoods, and when compared to the National Weather Service (NWS) Station.
- On hot days, temperatures in hotspot neighborhoods can be significantly higher than the NWS Station, with heat advisory and emergency thresholds being met in hotspot neighborhoods but not at the NWS station, and with heat advisories and emergencies starting before and extending past NWS-based declarations of heat advisory or emergency for Boston. Within-neighborhood temperatures can vary significantly, with heat advisory/emergency thresholds being met in some local areas and not others, suggesting that some sub-neighborhoods of hotspot communities are at even higher risk from heat exposure.
- Proximity to cooling features like coastal breezes, urban forestry, and other green infrastructure, can impact residents’ and workers’ heat vulnerability. The strategic location of temperature sensors is important, and neighborhood-specific temperature data could be a helpful tool to inform equitable emergency preparedness and response, as well as smart community planning.
Thank you to the many A Better City member and community partner organizations who participated in this pilot, including: Arnold Arboretum (Harvard University), Bay Cove Human Services, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Boston Green Academy, Boston Medical Center, Charles River Community Health, City of Boston’s Urban Forestry Division, Franklin Park Zoo, Greenway Conservancy, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, Museum of Science, and UMass Boston.
Check out the full press release here. For more information on the B-COOL pilot results and how to become involved in our collaborative heat work, please contact Isabella Gambill.
