New Orleans to create heat mitigation plan amid another scorching summer

The big picture: City officials cited last year's heat-related deaths as a driving force for the urgency of the plan.

• Officials are seeking a consulting firm to create a strategy with actionable items to help the city prepare "citizens and infrastructure for increased extreme heat events."
• The request for proposals says the plan must work with other goals, such as improving the city's greenhouse gas emissions, reducing exposure to urban heat and addressing extreme heat threats on a neighborhood basis.
• The bids are due by July 25.

By the numbers: The average temperature so far this month in New Orleans has been 85.59°F.

• The average temperature in July 2023 was 86.69°F, coming in as the third hottest month ever on record.
• Last year, August became the hottest month ever on record for New Orleans.
• New Orleans last year also had its hottest day ever recorded: 105°F on Aug. 27, smashing the previous record of 102°F set in 1980.

Threat level: 69 people died last summer across the state from heat-related causes, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. There have been seven deaths so far this year.

• Officials also have reiterated concerns about the extreme heat during any storm-related power outages.

State of play: New EPA data shows that the length of New Orleans' heat waves has increased the most out of every major U.S. metro between 1961 and 2023.

• The average New Orleans heat wave increased 4.5 days by 2023.
• That's significantly more than the metro-area average of a 1.4-day increase.

Between the lines: Human-caused climate change is altering the character of American summers.

• It's making heat waves far more likely and intense than they would have been without such high concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

What's next: Find ways to cool off with our guide to indoor activities.

• NORD's pools are open as well, along with day-pass options at these hotel pools.
• Here are several splash pads in the area, along with suggestions for snoball stands and ice cream shops.

Go deeper:

• 25+ best indoor things to do in New Orleans.
• New Orleans braces for a scorching hot summer.
• Louisiana likely to have hotter-than-usual summer.