Comment: Edmonds must plan to face next extreme climate event

By David Jones / For The Herald

Climate extremes are no longer anomalies in our region; they’re here, and they’re accelerating.

Summer heat waves will become more intense and prolonged. Winter storms will be colder and more disruptive. If Edmonds doesn’t move quickly to better prepare, we will be caught flat-footed. And people will die.

The stakes are real: The region’s 2021 heat dome killed 34 people in King County. Recently, extended days of heavy wildfire smoke in Edmonds triggered an array of health concerns, including asthma attacks requiring hospitalization.

Extreme cold presents similar dangers; especially to older adults, children, people with medical conditions, and those experiencing homelessness.

Nearby cities provide Edmonds with positive examples.

Shoreline has taken a resilience-focused approach, with:

Climate vulnerability mapping. Shoreline’s GIS-based assessment identifies areas most at risk from climate impacts (heat, flooding, storms) and shapes future infrastructure investments.

Public cooling resources. The city’s “Beat the Heat” guide lists cooling centers at City Hall, both public libraries, and Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park Town Center. Additional temporary cooling centers are available as needed.

Home energy ppgrades. The city’s Energize Shoreline program offers free heat pump workshops and rebates — $2,500 or more — for residents. Remember, a heat pump furnace functions in reverse as an air conditioner when needed.

Tree planting for urban shade. Shoreline’s Communi-trees program distributed over 130 trees in 2024, prioritizing neighborhoods vulnerable to extreme heat.

Resilient Communities Plan. Shoreline’s Climate Action Plan focuses on community preparedness, integrating climate adaptation directly into city planning and public education.

The city of Kirkland is focusing on quick responses and community safety:

Planned cooling centers. Kirkland opens cooling centers throughout the city; widely publicized, open for extended hours, and welcoming to pets and families.

Public guidance and outreach. The city provides detailed heat-prep tips, including advice on hydration, ways to cool your home, and how to help neighbors.

All hazard emergency management. This model ensures the city is ready not just for heat or cold, but for power outages, flooding, and other compound events.

Focus on equitable access. Coordinated neighborhood outreach prioritizes low-income and senior communities, partnering with local non-profits.

What should Edmonds be doing, right now?

Let’s learn from our neighbors. Here are six areas for immediate action:

Expand planned cooling/warming centers: At present only the Sno-Isle Library on Main Street and the Edmonds Waterfront Center are designated as cooling centers. Both are down in the Bowl and they are only intended to serve during their normal hours of operation. We need additional, widely disbursed cooling and warming sites ready to stay open for extended hours. The recent talk of selling our City Hall building ignores this need; this location is an ideal emergency center as it is close to our Police Department/Emergency Command Center.

Communicate in multiple languages: Publicize the locations of these centers on the city website and inform 211 operators, who provide multi-lingual, up-to-the-minute emergency and disaster updates across our state..

Prepare churches and civic groups to operate additional pop-up centers as needed.

Launch a neighborhood support network: Create a volunteer “check-in” system which activates during weather events.

Train Community Emergency Response Teams and local nonprofits to provide transport to shelters and door-to-door wellness checks.

Designate Edmonds Prepares, a local volunteer group, as the city’s partner for emergency and disaster preparation. This volunteer organization is creating a community emergency preparedness and response program with a network of partners, including the American Red Cross, YWCA, Edmonds Food Bank, Edmonds United Methodist Church, the Edmonds Library, and Edmonds College’s Safety Department.

Develop a climate vulnerability map: Use GIS tools to identify vulnerable areas: low tree cover, older or poorly insulated housing, low-income pockets, and elderly populations. Align city planning, permitting and spending with these findings.

Launch an electrification and weatherization program: Collaborate with Snohomish PUD to offer rebates for heat pumps. Present workshops demonstrating how homeowners and renters can increase their insulation and window shading. Seek partnerships with non-profits to assist with financing.

Expand tree planting and urban shade: Prioritize the city’s Urban Forest Management Plan’s and Tree Canopy Assessment’s goals to preserve existing tree canopy.

Distribute free indigenous shade trees. Prioritize tree planting in areas with high heat index and low canopy. Install shade structures at bus stops, parks, play structures and sidewalks.

Create a Citywide Emergency Heat and Cold Response Plan: Establish protocols for activating shelters, pushing out alerts, coordinating with utilities, and ensuring warming/cooling resources are equitably distributed.

Empower the Edmonds Office of Emergency Management and follow their guidance. City staff must be assigned clear goals and responsibilities and allocated resources.

Time is short, but the path is clear.

Our next severe heat wave or ice storm isn’t a question of if, but when. Warming and cooling centers are short-term, reactive responses. Effective, long-range solutions require the city to become resilience-focused. Edmonds need not, and should not, re-invent the wheel.

The first priority for any leader, whether mayor or council member, must be to keep our citizens safe and alive, especially when expected emergencies occur. Edmonds has models to follow, volunteers ready to partner, and organizations with skills and resources. Together we can become a city that’s ready, resilient and safe. We can save lives, if the needed leadership and urgency can be found.

Let’s get started.

David Jones lives in Edmonds.