Threshold evaluation of emergency risk communication for health risks related to hazardous ambient temperature

Emergency risk communication (ERC) programs that activate when the ambient temperature is expected to cross certain extreme thresholds are widely used to manage relevant public health risks. In practice, however, the effectiveness of these thresholds has rarely been examined. The goal of this study is to test if the activation criteria based on extreme temperature thresholds, both cold and heat, capture elevated health risks for all‐cause and cause‐specific mortality and morbidity in the Minneapolis‐St. Paul Metropolitan Area.