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This summer has seen record-breaking heat, with June 2025 ranking as the third warmest June since global records began in 1850, according to NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. As forecasters expect continued high temperatures through August, churches face challenges in keeping their congregations safe during worship.
Many church buildings lack air conditioning in sanctuaries, making them especially hot during services. Leaders must decide whether to move gatherings to cooler spaces like fellowship halls or classrooms, which may not have the same atmosphere as traditional worship areas.
To assist in these decisions, NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS), together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has developed HeatRisk. This guide helps organizations determine when temperatures pose health risks. The first prototype of HeatRisk was created for California in 2013 and expanded to cover the Western U.S. by 2017.
Katie Howe, Global HOPE minister for disaster response and recovery at Lakewood Congregational Church in Ohio, found HeatRisk useful when her congregation debated moving worship out of the sanctuary during a recent heat wave. “That’s when I found HeatRisk, which is a simple guide that is color coded by heat risk. The darker the color the higher the risk,” explained Howe.
HeatRisk provides historical context for temperature forecasts and highlights how unusual expected heat will be at any time of year across the contiguous United States. It also identifies temperatures likely to cause increased health impacts over a 24-hour period and up to seven days ahead. The tool considers both daytime and nighttime temperatures and uses a scale from zero (minor) to four (extreme) with corresponding colors.
Howe cautioned that while helpful, HeatRisk should not be used as an absolute rule: “It is important for congregations to consider the needs of their own church community. Still, it may be a helpful tool when making decisions that take measures to protect our congregations in the event of extreme heat, as children and older adults have the highest risk of heat-related illnesses.”
More information about current climate trends can be found on NOAA’s website: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202506.
