Mapping Summer Heat in Clarksville, Indiana

On Monday, August 23rd, 2021, 17 volunteers gathered in Clarksville to record near-surface air temperatures across town. Volunteers attached devices to their cars and bikes and traveled throughout Clarksville three times that day, collecting temperature data along the way.

These contributions resulted in the creation of a heat map of Clarksville that will help Clarksville's  Beat the Heat initiative  identify the areas of town that are most affected by extreme summer heat.

Clarksville's Heat Watch Campaign is part of a larger effort to map urban heat islands across the country. Learn more about this work  here .

Explore the map below to see areas in Clarksville that are most impacted by the urban heat island effect. For this map, volunteers recorded air temperatures between 6pm and 7pm on August 23rd, 2021. While the sun is beginning to set at this time, some areas of Town continue to retain heat from the day, making them up to 7.1°F hotter than the coolest places in Clarksville.

Use the spyglass tool to see what land uses lay below the hottest and coolest places on the map. You can also use the search box to enter an address. Consider comparing the differences between the places where you live, work, shop, and play. How does your neighborhood's temperature compare to other neighborhoods? Do any of these temperatures surprise you?

Zoom in and use the spyglass to explore Clarksville's summer air temperatures in more detail.

In 2022, Clarksville's Beat the Heat initiative developed Clarksville's first Heat Management Plan. This plan includes 26 strategies that will help Clarksville residents deal with the current and future impacts of extreme summer heat.

Some strategies, like community tree plantings, aim to directly mitigate Clarksville's heat island. Others, such as cooling centers and a Town-wide heat alert subscription service, will help residents be better prepared for extreme heat.

To learn more about the Heat Management Plan and Beat the Heat's work in Clarksville,  click here.  

Use the Green City Mapper tool to see how current social and environmental factors overlay with Clarksville's morning, afternoon, and evening heat island maps. This interactive map is managed by Indiana University's Environmental Resilience Institute.

Using the Layer Menu, scroll down to the "CAPA Heat Watch" layers to look at Clarksville's heat maps. Consider selecting some of the layers listed below to see how they overlap with the heat maps:

• CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 - Tracts
• Food Deserts by Census Tract
• Composite Socioeconomic Indices 2019

This story map was created by the Town of Clarksville in collaboration with Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute. 

Special thanks goes to the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CAPA Strategies, Clarksville Community Schools Corporation, and everyone in Clarksville who has contributed to this work.