California launches heat-ranking tool and $32M program to combat extreme heat

As California braces for what could be another blistering summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday announced a new digital tool to help residents stay safe in extreme heat, along with a $32.4 million investment to support local efforts to combat the state’s rising temperatures.

The state’s new tool, called CalHeatScore, offers personalized heat risk forecasts at the ZIP-code level. It provides residents with tailored safety tips, details on nearby cooling centers and information about who is most at risk during extreme heat events, such as seniors, children and people with health conditions.

The initiative comes as the first major heat wave of the summer is expected to hit California this weekend, with the National Weather Service issuing nine heat advisories across the state. California is experiencing more frequent and intense heatwaves, worsened by climate change. More than 5,000 Californians were hospitalized due to heat-related illnesses within the past decade, according to the California Department of Insurance.

“Extreme heat kills—and with the federal government cutting the very programs that help forecast it, California is taking aggressive action to protect residents from the impacts of extreme heat and build resilience in our most vulnerable communities,” Newsom said in a press release.

Alongside the new tool, the governor announced $32.4 million in funding to help 47 cities, counties and tribal communities implement long-term heat resilience strategies. Part of the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program, the funding will support projects like green spaces, reflective roofing, tree planting and cooling centers aimed at protecting vulnerable residents.

“Every single preventable death is one too many,” Yana Garcia, California’s secretary for environmental protection, said in the press release. “This groundbreaking tool will help Californians plan and respond so they can stay safe when a heat wave is about to strike. And it will shore up the state’s all-in fight against the very real dangers that climate change keeps bringing to our doorstep.”

CalHeatScore builds on the state’s work to provide residents with real-time, localized public health alerts through tools like the AirNow fire smoke tracker, which shows fine particle pollution from wildfires and other sources.