Hover over the location pins to see who died there in the 3-day heat dome event of June 2021.
Beginning in the 1930s in redlined cities of the United States, Grade C areas were deemed ‘declining’ by racist lenders and developers. Grade D areas were considered ‘hazardous.’ These areas are hotter today than places where investments were encouraged.
The underlying heat map, commissioned by the Tacoma city council with funding from the Bullitt Foundation, shows the so-called ‘urban heat island’ effect. Temperatures measured block by block in July 2018 registered differences of up to 14 degrees F between areas of the city, because of physical attributes such as pavement and tree canopy coverage or buildings that block windflow.
Heat data courtesy of Portland State University.
Disctrict data: Nelson, Winling, Marciano, Connolly, et al., Mapping Inequality