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Things are heating up in Milwaukee.
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As climate change drives global temperatures higher, heat can cause health problems for multitudes of people, especially in urban environments. Woonsup Choi wondered if it might affect certain people in particular. “I wanted to see whether this heat stress map would be somehow associated with the distribution with the socio-economic categories in Milwaukee,” he said. “In some parts of the city, the temperature may go up a little more than in other parts, Woonsup Choi depending on how dense the (population or buildings) are, how much vegetation is out there, or if there are parks nearby.” Choi is an associate professor of geography at UWM. His main research focuses on how climate change influences water storage and flow, but his recent side project sought to determine if lower-income areas of urban environments are more susceptible to heat stress due to hotter nighttime temperatures than more affluent neighborhoods. “Maybe (rising temperatures) may not be a big deal to those who live in a nice house that is well air-conditioned,” he reasoned. “But if people live in a building that is not well-ventilated or air-conditioned, then heat stress could be very dangerous.” The mercury’s rising Choi focused on Milwaukee and Minneapolis as mid-sized Midwestern cities. He collected temperature data from each area from a repository of climate model outputs dating back to 1950 and forth over the next 80 years. He focused on extreme events – those nights where
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2 • IN FOCUS • January, 2020
