Dry Heat Among the Red Rocks: Risk Perceptions and Behavioral Responses to Extreme Heat Among Outdoor Recreationists in Southeastern Utah

Abstract

Understanding how people perceive the risks of extreme heat is an essential part of developing better risk communication strategies and ultimately reducing vulnerability to heat. This study analyzed how tourists perceive and respond to extreme heat while recreating on public lands in southeastern Utah, a hot and dry environment. An increasing number of tourists are visiting national parks in the southwestern United States, exposing more people to heat-related health risks. This investigation focuses on how geographic differences of origin and thermal perceptions are associated with risk perceptions of extreme heat, and how risk perceptions in turn are associated with protective behaviors. This study found that risk perceptions of extreme heat were not significantly associated with demographic differences or the geographic origin of respondents. This study did find that while visitors could accurately predict the air temperature, on average within 1.1∘C (2∘F) of the actual temperature, visitors’ risk perception of extreme heat did not increase as temperatures increased. This study also found that visitors with higher risk perceptions were more likely to have engaged in certain protective behaviors — such as checking the weather conditions before their hike — but not others, such as the amount of water they carried. By understanding how people perceive and respond to the hazard, we can better understand best practices for communicating the risks of extreme heat with the intent of saving lives. These results are intended to help tourist agencies, emergency and natural resource managers and planners, and policymakers in creating and improving communication strategies for extreme heat.