OKLAHOMC CITY — With the extreme heat we will see across the metro Saturday, volunteers will be spending the day helping to create a heat map of Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City is 621 square miles and more than 4% of that is parking lots, which radiate a lot of heat when there is no shade. More than 250 volunteers, known as street scientists will be going around the city tomorrow to determine where the worst hot spots are.

“This is actually going to give us the data to show which neighborhoods are the hottest and which are the coolest,” Sarah Terry-Cobo, associate planner for OKC Office of Sustainability said.

You don’t need a thermometer to tell you it has been hot lately, but heat mapping shows you a more accurate temperature by taking data at ground level.

“Part of those things, they absorb the sun’s heat and then they radiate it back out throughout the day, even at night,” Cobo said. “And then they also reflect the sun’s heat as well, so it’s important for us to be able to gather these measurements on the ground level.”

Hundreds of volunteers will take to the streets tomorrow with these devices, putting them on their cars and driving a specific route to determine how hot it actually gets in certain areas around the city.

“So all of these measurements will be tracked by GPS, and that’s also where this information is going to be stored,” Cobo said.

KFOR’s meteorologist Mike Morgan says this data will be very beneficial for the future.

“Across the metro the temperatures at night in the summertime can vary by 10 to 12 degrees,” Morgan said. “Any given night from the interior city to the rural cooler outlying areas, mapping that he will be a benefit to all.”

It will take 6-8 weeks to get the raw data back. Sarah hopes that when they present the information gathered to the city, changes will be made to cool off the hotter areas.

“We can gather this data, we can present this information and we can provide potential solutions, but we are not the ones to make the decision,” Cobo said. “It’s up to city council and the mayor, they are the ones who actually can act and make change.”

The heat mapping will be taking place throughout the day Saturday. If you see them, be sure to stay alert because they’re be driving about 10-20 miles per hour.