Accountability and Accessibility in Heat Communication and Safety

Communicating heat safety to public audiences constitutes a difficult task which requires negotiating multiple layers of public perception and experience. While research into heat safety communication has focused on survey data and the efficacy of forecasting technologies to predict meteorological events, communicating extreme heat via digital social media environments presents an opportunity to study both communication from official sources along with the public response to information provided. This article compares communication about extreme heat on the National Weather Service Phoenix Facebook page during the hottest summer ever recorded (May-September 2020) with information delivered the following summer regarding heat awareness (May 2021). The findings from this study suggest that information that seeks to protect individuals from severe forecasts should be included in ways that garner more public attention, highlighting the need for vulnerable communities to take action to protect their health from the impacts of extreme heat. In the discussion, recommendations are offered for how technical communication regarding extreme heat could be modified to better account for safety concerns and vulnerability.