Sergio Olmos Profile picture
Investigative reporter @CalMatters | Winner of no awards | sergio@calmatters.org | dm for Signal | 🇲🇽

Aug 12, 2021, 28 tweets

Pacific Northwest heatwave.

Portland, Oregon. Thread.

This 3-person team consisting of PortlandFire, street response, and emergency management bureau are passing out water, ice, and snacks along the spring water trail.

Michael Silva @PDXFire explains how their out today to provide water and aid to vulnerable populations living outside.

95°F

Alex Dolle, a 17-year old high student works for @MultCoEM, he explains what his job is out here today

Alex Dolle explains what “meeting them where they are” means

Haika Mushi is with @PDXStResponse, she explains why they’re out here today

95°F

@PDXFire, @PDXStResponse, and @MultCoEM giving aid along the spring water trail

Kristle aelihanty is handing out water and food for houseless folks in lents park, she’s with @pdxsaintslove

Spencer with east Portland collective is helping distribute food. He says all the supplies to @pdxsaintslove are donations.

99°F

Kristle delihanty explains how @pdxsaintslove goes to houseless folks where they are, rather than expecting them to go to a cooling center

Attending to a woman showing signs of heat related illness, @PDXFire @PDXStResponse @PortlandBEM

99°F

Chad Draizin is driving around giving away ice cream to the houseless

Chad Draizin is driving around giving away ice buckets and ice cream to the houseless

“Coffee or French toast ice cream?”
Portland business owner Chad Draizin is spending some time during the heatwave handing out free ice cream to houseless folks

This man says it feels *hotter* than the last heatwave

99°F

James Hamby is used to the heat, but he’s from south Florida

Dr. Vivek Shandas is a professor at Portland State researching climate adaption.

His work looks at micro climates in a city, how the absence of green spaces can heat up a neighborhood

90°F shaded area
98°F standing in the sun
110°F on the mural
125°F on the asphalt

121°F on the asphalt in the industrial district in Portland, Oregon

“This gets into the shade equity question: who has shade in a city and who doesn’t?”

Dr. Vivek Shandas shows how even just some greenery can create a micro climate and cool an area 10 degrees

Look at a neighborhood through the eyes of Dr. Vivek Shandas

“This building is a very typical example of where people died.”

Dr. Vivek Shandas shows how some buildings handle heat poorly

Dr. Vivek Shandas shows how in this building less than a quarter of the windows have A.C. units, putting a strain on them.

“When they run overtime they tend to crap out.”

“Some the people who died in this last heatwave had A.C, they were running it, and it broke.”

We can’t see green within our field of vision.

Dr. Vivek Shandas explains how heat is trapped in such an environment.

“It creates what’s called an Urban Canyon effect”

Dr. Vivek Shandas explains the economics of adding green to our neighborhoods

“I moved up here from California to get away from this kind of shit” says Kevin Mace, about the heatwave hitting the Pacific Northwest

Here’s screenshots from the infrared camera Dr. Vivek Shandas was using.

Surface area temperature range from 98°F to 124°F

For everyone messaging me about the gadgets Dr. Vivek Shandas is using, here he is explaining them

I am out of the heat.

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