Daily County-Level Heat Metrics for the Contiguous U.S., 2000-2020

Contiguous U.S. county-level daily population-weighted mean values for multiple heat metrics from 2000 to 2020. The dataset includes wet-bulb globe temperature, Universal Thermal Climate Index, heat index, and ambient temperature measures. It was created by Keith R. Spangler and published in Scientific Data in 2022, based on modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information.

Use Cases

• Modeling population heat exposure risk based on wet-bulb globe temperature and other metrics.
• Analyzing temporal trends in heat stress across U.S. counties based on daily data from 2000-2020.
• Correlating heat metrics with health outcomes using population-weighted county-level aggregates.
• Comparing different heat index calculations (e.g., humidex, net effective temperature, Universal Thermal Climate Index) for the same geographic areas.

Strengths

• Covers a 21-year time range (2000-2020) for longitudinal analysis.
• Includes multiple validated heat metrics (e.g., wet-bulb globe temperature, Universal Thermal Climate Index) for comparative studies.
• Provides data at the county level for the contiguous United States, offering fine-grained spatial analysis.
• Values are population-weighted, which may better represent human exposure than raw geographic averages.

Limitations

• Two counties (Monroe, FL and Nantucket, MA) are missing due to source data unavailability.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment for large-scale modeling.

Provenance

Source

Keith R. Spangler, based on modified Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5-Land) information.

Collection Method

Derived from ERA5-Land reanalysis data, processed to create daily population-weighted county means.

Time Range

2000-2020

Geography

County-level for the contiguous United States.