Climate extremes pose serious threats to human health and place increasing demands on municipal services and infrastructure, and they threaten the long-term sustainability of a region. These extremes have implications for rapid response and emergency management, but they also amplify the effects of underlying social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities and have numerous potential long-term consequences in terms of planning for and dealing with potential disasters. In the Southwest, heat presents a unique opportunity to study the intersection between an acute event (e.g., a multi-day heat wave), and underlying vulnerabilities and risks. It also presents an opportunity to look for cross-sector impacts and potential cascades of impacts.
