If you were standing at Trade and Tryon in Uptown Charlotte on a hot summer day, your body might feel 12 degrees hotter than someone standing in the suburban town of Wadesboro, some 93 miles southeast. Shift to Beatties Ford Road in northwest Charlotte and you might feel 5-7 degrees hotter than your Wadesboro counterpart, depending on your exact location. It’s no secret that cities can hold stifling summer heat, but now some Charlotte researchers have produced an extensive “urban heat map” that shows just how hot some of Charlotte’s neighborhoods are, relative to others. The bottom line: The city’s urban core can get smoking hot, especially in Uptown, but also in neighborhoods near interstate highways and rail corridors. And not surprisingly, Charlotte’s leafy neighborhoods are generally cooler than those with fewer trees. The findings were presented Thursday by UNC Charlotte professors Katherine Idziorek and Matthew Eastin, who were part of the heat-study team.
Why it matters: “Heat is dangerous. In fact, it is the leading cause of weather-related mortality worldwide. And it is getting worse,” according to the website
Charlotte’s Urban Heat Island .
Here’s how it worked
Last summer, on July 14, more than 60 volunteers spread out in cars across the Charlotte region to gather data relating to heat index, a measure of heat and humidity that can affect how the human body functions. The cars were equipped with special temperature-sensing equipment. The team covered 100 square miles along ten routes, collecting humidity and temperature data every two to three seconds. They collected in three shifts, starting at 6 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m. Charlotte was among 14 U.S. cities selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to conduct heat research. From 1999 to 2017, at least 225 people died in North Carolina from heat-related causes, according to the National Library of Medicine. At least 25 of those deaths were work related, with the highest rates of occupational heat-related deaths occurring among males and Black workers.
Charlotte’s urban heat island
Professor Idziorek, one of the lead researchers, said the goal was to learn more about the “disparate effects” of urban heat across communities and work with local organizations to mitigate those effects. Professor Eastin described the heat on July 14 as “widespread across Charlotte.” When the first data were collected, around 6 a.m., the heat index was 85 degrees. It would later reach as high as 103 degrees. The resulting heat map can be
found online . “Extreme heat is widespread across Charlotte, particularly in the summer,” Eastin said. “The key is where’s the hot and where’s a little bit colder?” In addition to Uptown, some of the hottest areas were found along Wilkinson Boulevard and Interstate 85, Eastin said. Areas that tended to be cooler were near urban forests and green spaces.
Mitigating urban heat
Professor Idziorek said ensuring access to indoor cooling, making energy affordable and accessible and enforcing occupational safety regulations can all help reduce the risks of heat-related injuries. Another way could be limiting personal exposure to the heat, which can be done by shortening the distance between public transportation and providing shade to pedestrians. “Even having an efficient transit system limits the amount of exposure people have when they’re walking to busses, waiting for busses and so forth,” she said. Long-term measures include land-use planning, increasing greenery and urban forests, such as creeks, parks and greenways, and reducing greenhouse gases, which can all help lessen urban heat. “Are we conserving land in our urban areas? Do we have trees? Do we have urban forests?” Idziorek said. “How many lanes of roadways are we building? How wide is that pavement?” Idziorek encouraged community members to look at the data and advocate for heat mitigation in their neighborhoods. She also recommended that residents get involved with Charlotte’s
Strategic Energy Action Plan update with the Office of Sustainability and Resilience. “You can advocate with your community for heat mitigation and adaptation,” Idziorek said. “We encourage you to explore the data, to look at the map, to think about what that means for your community and to ask some questions.”
