Cities warm up ‘like stones in a sauna’ during a heat wave. Can that change?
Global News
Experts say city and suburb dwellers have it much worse than their counterparts living in the countryside, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as ‘urban heat island effect.'
Many parts of Canada continue to face a protracted heat wave, with “dangerously hot and humid” conditions persisting through much of southern Ontario and parts of Quebec.
Experts say city and suburb dwellers have it much worse than their counterparts living in the countryside due to a phenomenon sometimes referred to as ‘urban heat island effect.”
Many are cautioning that cities need to urgently adapt to warming summers as extreme heat becomes more common.
The Climate Atlas of Canada says the urban heat island phenomenon happens when paved surfaces amplify and trap heat far more effectively than natural ecosystems and rural areas. On a sunny day, paved surfaces can be 27 to 50 °C hotter than the air, the Climate Atlas says.
“The concrete and asphalt surfaces in urban areas act like the hot stones in a sauna, if you will. They absorb the incoming solar radiation, turn it into heat, and rebroadcast it out,” Ryan Ness, adaptation research director at the Canadian Climate Institute, told Global News.
Ness said the difference can be even more pronounced at night, with cities and suburbs being up to 10 to 12 degrees warmer than rural areas. Data shows that Canadian cities are going to get a lot warmer.
According to the Climate Atlas, between 2051 and 2080, Canadian cities will see at least four times as many days with temperatures higher than 30 C.
Ness said this shows the need to adapt cities urgently.