Heat Island Effect

Climate Change and Heat Islands

Explore our recently updated webpage to understand the interactions between climate change and heat islands.
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Heat Island Mitigation Strategies

How to Keep Your Cool
Learn about the five strategies to reduce the heat island effect: trees and vegetation, green roofs, cools roofs, cool pavements, and smart growth.
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Cool Your Community

Download social media graphics and messages to increase awareness of heat islands, share information on heat island cooling strategies, and encourage adoption of cooling strategies.

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Heat Islands and Equity

Learn how cooling heat islands can build equity and resilience among underserved communities.

Heat islands are urbanized areas that experience higher temperatures than outlying areas. Structures such as buildings, roads, and other infrastructure absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat more than natural landscapes such as forests and water bodies. Urban areas, where these structures are highly concentrated and greenery is limited, become “islands” of higher temperatures relative to outlying areas. Daytime temperatures in urban areas are about 1–7°F higher than temperatures in outlying areas and nighttime temperatures are about 2-5°F higher. Find more information on the Learn About Heat Islands page.