Too Hot
When it get's too hot....
2021
May 2021
Miami gets a "Chief Heat Officer"
by Craig Pittman / Via the Washington Post
Jane Gilbert, the city’s new chief heat officer, says she will put together a task force of experts to address the problem
Last June, Miami reported its hottest temperatures on record. The daytime sun was brutal and there was little respite even at night. Dozens of heat-related deaths were reported that year.
As the Earth warms, the city by the ocean says its heat problem is poised to become even deadlier.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava (D) recently announced the county was creating a first-of-its-kind position — chief heat officer.
“We know extreme heat does not impact people equally — poorer communities and Black and Hispanic people bear the brunt of the public health impacts,” the mayor said in a statement. A chief heat officer will “coordinate our efforts to protect people from heat and save lives.”
Q: But heat is such a fact of life in Miami. What makes that deserving of a chief officer?
A: Miami knows heat — we’re hot and humid a good part of the year. A heat index of 105 degrees is about when you’ve hit dangerous levels, when people could really suffer from heatstroke.
We currently have an average of seven days where we get over that heat index for a couple of hours. By mid-century, we’re going to have 88 of those days — that’s more than 10 times as many days....
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