City of Ukiah conducts heat watching campaign to assess community risk  

UKIAH, CA., 8/14/25 — On Tuesday at the Ukiah Civic Center in downtown Ukiah, a group of city employees gathered in the back parking lot to begin an “urban heat mapping campaign.” 

The initiative was organized by the city of Ukiah to record high temperatures throughout the Ukiah Valley and better understand the factors that contribute to heat risk. 

The campaign is a part of a larger initiative called Heat Watch, initiated by Portland-based environmental firm Capa Strategies. On Tuesday, about 100 U.S. cities participated in the program to assess extreme heat risk in their areas. Some of the cities involved included Washington, D.C.; Boise, Idaho; Missoula, Montana; New Orleans, Los Angeles, and several others. 

The campaign aims to provide specific heat risk data to the Ukiah community. While there is other data available, including from the National Weather Service, city employees hope to have data that takes into account different factors such as placement of neighborhoods and their proximity to the coast. 

According to Blake Adams, chief resilience officer of the city’s climate adaptation and resilience division and the organizer of the campaign, this data could be used by fire departments, scientists, and local residents to understand which regions of Ukiah have a higher heat risk.  

On Tuesday, Adams presented a plan on how the group of surveyors would be tracking temperature throughout the city. 

That day, the group drove in city vehicles through Ukiah at three different times — morning, afternoon and evening — to collect data during times with substantial temperature differences. This allowed the group to record data showing an accurate picture of heat fluctuation throughout the day. 

The groups of surveyors were each assigned a different route in the city. One group, for example, focused on the southern part of Ukiah, while another group focused on the western side. These regions tend to have different temperatures due to factors such as the amount of available shade and the number of parks and green spaces. 

Adams said that Capa Strategies, which helps communities assess local hazards and develop adaptation plans, provided equipment — specifically the temperature sensors — and training workshops to the city of Ukiah to begin the project. 

“Using these sensors, it’s designed to give the best overall picture of heat fluctuations throughout the day,” Adams said in an interview to The Mendocino Voice during the afternoon route of the heat mapping campaign. “The sensor records temperature, humidity, time and location. You can paint a really comprehensive picture.” 

During the afternoon route of the heat mapping campaign, which ran from 3-4 p.m., one group that consisted of Adams and two other city employees drove through the southern part of Ukiah to track heat risk in different areas. During the ride-along, they observed various types of residential communities, including mobile home parks with little to no shade, neighborhoods with large parking lots consisting of dark asphalt, and streets with natural resources such as trees and shrubs. 

“We picked points of interest — mobile home parks, which are severely exposed to extreme heat. We also included recreation centers, schools, senior centers, churches, and other gathering places,” Adams added. “Mobile home parks have high heat risk. That’s why the route in particular is designed to move through those communities to capture that information.” 

Adams noted that without the support of a grant from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services called the Prepare California JumpStart grant, the city of Ukiah wouldn’t have been able to implement the heat mapping campaign in collaboration with Capa Strategies. Adams explained that the grant provided the funds needed for this project to come to fruition. 

“Without it, we would be hard pressed to find the funds, the staff, and the resources. Because we have these grants, we can combine efforts,” he explained.  

Adams said that after he compiles the data from the sensors and puts it into a database, he will be able to send that information to Capa Strategies. In about six weeks, the city of Ukiah will receive a preliminary map displaying the temperatures that were gathered Tuesday. He said that in approximately three months, the city will be able to present a public-facing heat risk map on their website. 

“By doing this, we’re going to have better data for Ukiah. To my understanding, this is the first time anything like this has ever been done in Ukiah, and the city is leading that charge,” he explained. “Making that data available to wine growers and property owners will be interesting. I’m curious to see the public’s response to that, good or bad. The goal is to help everyone know what their risk is. Like somebody who is looking to acquire a property might say that it’s high risk for heat, and maybe look at a different parcel.”