An initial assessment of equivalent temperature as a measure of heat danger

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发表日期：

2026年6月13日

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Daniel Whitesel,
Rezaul Mahmood,
Xiaomao Lin,
Roger Pielke Sr,
Liang Chen,
Michael Hayes,
Jamie Lahowetz,
Martha Durr,
Babak Jalalzadeh Fard,
Jesse Bell,
William Sorensen

摘要

Heat waves are one of the deadliest climate-related hazards. The heat index (HI) is one of the most widely used measures of heat waves. Although the HI accounts for moisture, it is neither a measure of total atmospheric heat content nor moist heat content. Equivalent temperature (T_E) is a measure of total atmospheric heat content and quantifies both dry and moist heat content. In this study, T_E was assessed alongside HI from 2011 to 2021 for selected locations from the Nebraska and Kansas Mesonets. Results show that atmospheric moisture has a large impact on total heat content. For example, it was found that for the Parsons, KS station, the latent heat contribution of 10.6% of the total atmospheric heat content more than doubled the difference between T_E and T_a. Additionally, several heat waves, including in 2012, 2021, and 2023 were analyzed using both HI and T_E. The study finds that there were mismatches in timing of occurrences of daily maximum T_E and HI. For example, on August 22, 2023, at Concord Nebraska, the maximum T_E was observed at 0000 Local Time (LT) while HI was observed at 1700 LT. We suggest that these mismatches can impact response strategies of various heat related emergency responses.