Extreme Heat Experiences and Perceptions: Results from National Surveys of the US Public and Local Policymakers

Extreme heat continues to negatively affect the health and wellbeing of millions of people in the US and globally. Managing heat risks is also challenging due to complex and geographically varying heat-health relationships, societal and demographic changes, and evolving beliefs, risk perceptions, and response capacities. The way people and local policymakers perceive heat risks is likely to influence their protective responses to extreme heat. The ongoing NSF-funded study contributes to broader efforts to build resilience to extreme heat in the US by bridging the gap between the ways extreme heat risk and heat-protective response options are being perceived by the American public and perceived and managed by local policymakers in the US. In this presentation, we will present results from nationally-representative surveys of the US adult population and surveys of local policy-makers, conducted in 2023-2024. We will summarize key findings on perceptions of the US public and local policy-makers about heat risks and responses. We will highlight the survey results on the experiences of the US population with heat warnings and advisories during summer of 2023. We will also discuss short-term and long-term actions that US public perceives to be effective to prepare their communities for future extreme heat. We will discuss how these findings can inform heat warnings and risk communication and the design of more effective heat resilience strategies.