Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the newest strategies for protecting California residents and communities from the worsening impacts of climate change-driven extreme heat.
“California’s Extreme Heat Action Plan: A State Strategy for Protecting Californians from Extreme Heat” outlines current efforts to lower risks of hotter weather conditions to people’s health and the state’s natural resources and economy, while recommending future actions to add resilience to communities.
“Californians are feeling the impacts of extreme heat earlier, longer, and more intensely than ever before,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “With our latest action plan, we’re mobilizing and coordinating state government at every level to protect communities and reduce the risks that heat poses to our health and economy. My administration has done more to build protections against extreme heat than any before it – and we’re setting the path for the next chapter of our hotter, drier future.”
California has already experienced multiple periods of extreme heat in 2026, from record-breaking temperatures earlier this year to another dangerous heat wave across the state just this month. In the last few weeks alone, temperatures climbed well above 100 degrees across inland California, reaching 124 degrees in Death Valley and 116 degrees in Palm Springs. These events show how a changing climate is making extreme heat more frequent, severe and long-lasting. But the impacts are not felt equally. Older adults, children, people with disabilities, outdoor workers and people without access to air conditioning face greater risks than others. And as these dangerous temperatures become more common, the stakes are high: extreme heat is already the deadliest weather-related hazard in California and across the nation.
“Extreme heat impacts nearly every part of daily life, from public health and emergency response to housing, infrastructure, energy, and the economy,” said Samuel Assefa, director of the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. “This updated plan helps ensure state agencies are working from the same playbook to better prepare for and respond to rising temperatures across California.”