this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2024

174 points (99.4% liked)

News

23376 readers

2493 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.

2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.

3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.

4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.

5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.

6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.

7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.

8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.

9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.

10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

174

Urban heat island effect making temperatures 8F hotter in 65 US cities – study (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

17 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Nearly 34 million people in those cities, or 15% of the US population, experiencing temperatures higher than in surrounding areas

Almost 34 million people in 65 major US cities, or 15% of the country’s population, are experiencing temperatures that are 8F higher than their surrounding areas, according to a new analysis from Climate Central, a non-profit research group.

That is largely due to built environments like parking lots and asphalt sidewalks, and a lack of trees, that contribute to what’s known as the urban heat island effect.

The research found the urban heat island effect was strongest in New York City, where the built environment can push temperatures more than 9F higher than nearby areas.

The study, which comes as extreme heat is blistering through the US, putting more than 146 million people under advisories, illustrates how many are enduring even higher temperatures due to the way their cities were built.

top 17 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago

This is part of why we need to change the way we build our cities. Vast stretches of wide roads and massive parking lots soak up a lot of heat. Tram lines can have grass between the rails. Pedestrian paths can be built with lighter colors. Cycling pathes take up less space and allow for green space. Building up instead of out keeps cities smaller and more contained, even providing shade on streets.

Less asphalt also mean rainwater run off is less of an issue. Rain water collects dirt, garbage, salt, oils, tire/brake dust, and increases in temperature as it runs along hot road surfaces towards sewers. These all impact local streams and lakes by poisoning the water and disruprting natural temperature regulations (many eggs use water temperature to determine if it is time to hatch and if food will be available when they hatch).

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm sure planting trees all over a city is expensive, but I'm guessing dealing with all of the effects of excess heat might be worth the cost...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Chicago has a fair amount of trees. Maybe some more boulevard type things with trees can be done or maybe rooftop greenery

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (3 children)

There are a lot of places in cities, even cities with a fair amount of trees like Chicago, where there could easily be far more trees. It would just mean taking up more sidewalk space, cleaning up leaves in the fall, petals in the spring, etc. Businesses start complaining about it.

And sometimes it could be trees but they think other things are prettier.

Here's a bit of the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. Could those flowers be replaced with trees? I don't see why not.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

It depends on what is under that dirt. Is it deep enough for a root system, are there utilities under that, etc?

Also, mature trees will need some space for the root system to collect water and spread without destroying roadway. This is why a lot of warmer cities like to plant palm trees in medians - they have a pretty shallow / narrow root system.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

The problem with planting trees in boulevards or in parking lot islands is that they cement and asphalt don't allow a lot of water to filter through to the roots. They might be fine for a little while, you might be able to nurse them along if you find a way to water them. But ultimately, they will all die off earlier than they should.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Agreed. Although, it depends on the tree. A lot of warmer cities like palm trees because they have a root system that works well in this scenario.

It’s also worth noting that many cites have utilities running under these streets.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

There is also increased maintaince as leaves must be cleared from the streets/sewers, dead branches must be removed before they are hazardous, and the city should be monitoring overall health to cut trees before they rot out and fall.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

There have to be tree species that will do all right with less water. They might be invasive though, so that would be a different problem.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Bradford pears were used a lot in my area, but were ultimately invasive. I think putting more native shrubs or bushes might help some since their drip like can be kept smaller than a tree's.

It's a problem I have to deal with regularly at work. So many parking lots had low canopy trees that just all died off at about the same time due to being in parking islands.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

yeah. that image is what I meant by boulevard type things. Im just saying there is not a whole lot of options. Some more can be done but its going to have some hard limits from soil access.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A difference of 8F is about 4.5C for anyone unfamiliar with freedom units.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Thank you!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Went to my pride festival last month. it was 98°F, but within the confines of the pride parade, nestled in the downtown district, surrounded by concrete, it felt like 110°F. The only thing I could accomplish was walking while fanning myself with occasional breaks in the shade. It was so bad, I couldn't even pause to look at the vendors wares that were set up in unobstructed daylight. It was just too hot to stand and look at anything, I just walked right on by. There was a YMCA building that people would go in, just to stand in the air conditioned lobby for a moment. The doors opened as I walked by and I could feel the glorious chill air rush past me. I would have gone in, but I observed that there were elderly, frail people taking respite from the heat inside, and it didn't feel right that I (as a young healthy man) should join them.

Basically, it was so hot that the only thing I could really do, is patiently wait until I hit my limit, and then gtfo. I don't think I'll ever want to live in a city again after experiencing this kind of heat.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Everyone can be impacted by heat. Take those breaks in the cold air if you need them. In my experience elderly people often have some interesting things to say and I'm sure most of them wouldn't have even noticed you joining them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

That is largely due to built environments like parking lots and asphalt sidewalks

of course! its those damned sidewalks

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I've noticed for years that whenever Arizona weather maps are shown, Phoenix temps are always noticeably higher than the surrounding areas. I always have the same thought: Gee, who would have thought building a heat sink in the desert would be a good idea. I guess it's not just the desert cities that suffer from this