IJERPH, Vol. 15, Pages 2048: Establishing Heat Alert Thresholds for the Varied Climatic Regions of British Columbia, Canada

The objective of this study was to identify evidence-based heat alert thresholds for the Southwest, Southeast, Northwest, and Northeast regions to facilitate the introduction of HARS across BC. This was done based on a national approach that considers high temperatures on two consecutive days and the intervening overnight low, referred to as the high-low-high approach. Daily forecast and observed air temperatures and daily mortality counts for May through September of 2004 through 2016 were obtained. For each date (dayt), dayt−2 forecasts were used to assign high temperatures for dayt and dayt+1 and the overnight low. A range of high-low-high threshold combinations was assessed for each region by finding associations with daily mortality using time-series models and other considerations. The following thresholds were established: 29-16-29 °C in the Southwest; 35-18-35 °C in the Southeast; 28-13-28 °C in the Northwest; and 29-14-29 °C in the Northeast. Heat alert thresholds for all regions in BC provide health authorities with information on dangerously hot temperature conditions and inform the activation of protective public health interventions.

Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - September 19, 2018 Category: Environmental Health Authors: Kathleen E. McLean Rebecca Stranberg Melissa MacDonald Gregory R. A. Richardson Tom Kosatsky Sarah B. Henderson Tags: Article Source Type: research