New York’s concrete jungle makes sizzling heat feel even hotter
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Buildings, roads and sidewalks absorb the heat from the sun and then release it, a process known as the “urban heat island effect”.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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NEW YORK – There is a reason heatwaves feel hotter in New York City: concrete. And here in the city, it has a lot of it.
Buildings, roads and sidewalks absorb the heat from the sun and then release it, a process known as the “urban heat island effect”.
A 2023 study on the phenomenon reported that New York City, followed by Newark, New Jersey, had the highest urban heat island, or UHI, index average of about 13 deg C.
This means that if the temperature is about 32 deg C, it feels more like 37. Other cities with high UHI numbers include Miami, Seattle, New Orleans, Detroit and Chicago.
When the National Weather Service releases heat index predictions, which factor humidity with temperature readings, it takes into account the urban heat island component, said Mr Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist at the weather service. “The value is baked into our computer model,” he added.
But there is a way for cities to mitigate against the heat: by incorporating more green spaces into urban landscapes, said Ms Amy Chester, managing director of Rebuild by Design, a resiliency non-profit group.
“All the ways we make our cities beautiful also have the added benefit of cooling our air during heatwaves, cleaning our air, absorbing rainwater to reduce flooding, raising the value of our homes and providing better health and mental health outcomes,” she noted.
Trees provide shade, which lowers ambient temperatures, while green roofs, like the 2.73ha one atop Javits Centre in mid-town Manhattan, or the green terraces of Via Verde, an affordable housing development in South Bronx, lower indoor temperatures, Ms Chester said.
A glance at a heat map posted by the US Geological Survey shows that temperatures in Central Park, for example, can be cooler than more developed areas.
Case in point: The temperature on June 21 in Central Park, a monitoring site for the weather service, reached 34.4 deg C. At La Guardia Airport, another site with plenty of concrete and hardly any green, the high temperature was 36.1 deg C.
Temperatures in the city will hover in the 30s into the weekend, though potential rain could provide some relief. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city’s subway and buses, announced on June 21 that it would be on the lookout through the weekend for possible service disruptions linked to the heat. NYTIMES
