Millions of U.S. kids attend schools in dangerous ‘urban heat zones,' analysis finds
Climate change is making heat waves more frequent and intense, and dialing up humidity — which can make climates feel even hotter. Cities absorb and re-emit heat from the sun more than natural landscapes, thanks to their highly concentrated buildings, roads and infrastructure. These pockets of heat are known to climate scientists as 'heat islands,' resulting in temperatures up to 20 degrees higher for cities and their inhabitants.
Humid regions and communities with larger and denser populations and more buildings — such as the East Coast's New York City and the West Coast's San Francisco — experience the greatest temperature differences. The heat island effect is expected to strengthen and grow in the future, as urban areas become more populated. This puts children in those areas at a heightened risk.
Children are already one of the groups most vulnerable to extreme heat: the nation's top killer. Furthermore, many schools do not have adequate air conditioning. A Government Accountability Office report in 2020 found that tens of thousands of schools need their heating and cooling systems replaced or updated.
More than 80 percent of Americans live in urban areas. Now, a new report from non-profit Climate Central says the majority of K-12 public school students located in the nation's biggest cities go to school on 'extreme' urban heat islands. Approximately 76 percent are in zones where temperatures are at least 8 degrees higher than outlying areas.
'Across the nearly 6.2 million K-12 public school students included in this analysis, the average student attends school in neighborhoods that are 8.3 degrees hotter due to the built environment,' the report found.
In an analysis of 65 of America's largest cities and more than 12,000 K-12 public schools, Climate Central said that in a quarter of the cities assessed, nine in every 10 students attend a school located in an extreme urban heat island.
The city with the lowest additional heat for the average student was Phoenix.
New York City, the largest city in the country, had the maximum additional heat, with an increase of 9.6 degrees.
Climate Central said in 62 of the 65 cities studied that at least half of all K-12 students attend public school in extreme urban heat zones. The three exceptions included Boston, Providence, Rhode Island, and Richmond, Virginia.
Among the included cities, Louisville, Kentucky, Orlando, Florida, and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, have the largest shares of public K-12 students enrolled at schools in extreme urban heat zones.
The analysis is based on Climate Central's previous modeling work and data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
The report also noted that the risk is not equally felt. Urban heat islands are more likely in lower-income and non-white communities and Climate Central said burdens have linked to a history of racially biased housing policy.
With hotter temperatures expanding into the fall and winter months, the authors have called for action to prevent greater impacts on children.
'Future generations are likely to face accelerating change and intensifying risks — particularly from heat waves — with continued warming,' the group asserted. 'Ultimately, a commitment to rapid, sustained cuts to carbon pollution is the most impactful action to slow the rate of warming and set younger generations on a different path, toward a safer future.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Last month hottest June on record in England, Met Office figures suggest
Last month was the warmest June on record in England and the second warmest for the UK since Met Office data began in 1884. Provisional June figures released by the agency on Tuesday indicate the mean average temperature for England across the month was 16.9C, beating the previous record of 16.7C set in 2023. For the UK as a whole, the mean temperature was 15.2C, just behind 15.8C set in 2023. Meanwhile, Wales saw its third warmest June, behind 2023 and 2018. It comes as Tuesday was confirmed as the hottest day of the year so far, with a temperature of 33.6C recorded in Frittenden, Kent. The Met Office said temperatures are 'very likely' to climb even higher in the South East during the afternoon, with forecasters saying temperatures could reach 34C to 35C in London before cooler conditions sweep in from the north. The hot weather marks the second heat wave for parts of the UK within the last month, with scientists warning the high temperatures were made more likely because of human-caused climate change. In terms of rainfall, the Met Office figures show the UK saw an average of 79.5mm in June overall, 3% above the long-term average for the month. But there were clear regional differences in the amount of rain experienced. While Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all saw at least 20% more rainfall than average, England received 80% of the average. There was also a north-south split within England, with northern areas seeing 98% of the long-term average but southern parts experiencing 68%. The country saw one of the driest springs on record, prompting drought status to be declared recently in the North West and Yorkshire. Sunshine levels were above average across the UK – at 112% – although no national records were broken, while England was particularly sunny seeing 124% of the average, according to the Met Office. Extreme heat is becoming more frequent and intense because of climate change, and experts say the health impacts of heat are severely underestimated. They warn that the UK is unprepared for the rising risk of extremely hot conditions that climate change is bringing – especially earlier in the summer, when people are less acclimatised to coping with it. Dr Amy Doherty, Met Office climate scientist, said: 'While we've not conducted formal climate attribution studies into June 2025's two heat waves, past studies have shown it is virtually certain that human influence has increased the occurrence and intensity of extreme heat events such as this. 'Numerous climate attribution studies have shown that human influence increased the chance that specific extreme heat events would occur, such as the summer of 2018 and July 2022. 'Our Met Office climate projections indicate that hot spells will become more frequent in our future climate, particularly over the south-east of the UK. 'Temperatures are projected to rise in all seasons, but the heat would be most intense in summer.' A rapid study by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) research group found the searing temperatures earlier in June were made 100 times more likely because of human-caused climate change, while the heat wave that gripped south-east England was 10 times likelier. Dr Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, research fellow at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London, said: 'Heat waves are silent killers. 'Unlike floods or storms, their impact can be invisible: people who die during extreme heat usually have pre-existing health conditions, and heat is rarely recorded as a contributing cause of death.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
How heatwave grip UK, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France and oda parts of Europe
Two pipo don die for Italy as temperatures continue to rise. Both Portugal and Spain record dia hottest June ever as scorching temperatures continue to grip Europe. UK also record dia hottest day of di year. Met Office tok say dem record a temperature of 33.6C for Frittenden, Kent. Spain national weather service Aemet tok say di kontri "extremely hot" June 2025 "don break records", wey surpass di normal average for July and August. Di Portuguese meteorological service say 46.6C na di highest temperature dem record for June. Elsewhere on di continent on Tuesday, 1 July, authorities evacuate tens of thousands of pipo sake of wildfires for western Turkey, while two die for Italy following separate heat-related deaths. Overnight, di Aemet meteorological agency say several places across di Iberian Peninsula don top 43C but add say di temperature fit come down on Thursday. Night-time temperatures dem record overnight into Tuesday hit 28C for Seville and 27C for Barcelona. For Turkey, rescuers evacuated more dan 50,000 pipo - mostly from di western province of Izmir - as firefighters continue to put out hundreds of wildfires wey break out in recent days. Fires don also sweep through parts of Bilecik, Hatay, Sakarya, and Manisa provinces. Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli tok say ova di past three days, emergency teams don respond to 263 wildfires nationwide. For France, many cities bin experience dia hottest night and day on record for June on Monday, but forecasters tok say di heatwave dey expected to peak on Tuesday. Dem close di top of di Eiffel Tower for Paris has been sake of di intense European heatwave; while Climate Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher call am "unprecedented" situation. For di first time in five years, di Paris region bin activate a red alert, along wit 15 oda French regions. Di Ministry of Education say dem go partially or completely close 1,350 public schools on Tuesday. Mora for Portugal bin record 46.6 C (115.9F), about 60 miles east of Lisbon on Sunday. Portuguese weather officials dey work to confam if new record go break for June. For Italy, di Tuscany region don see rise for di number of pipo wey dey hospital admissions by 20%, according to local reports. Italians for 21 out of di 27 cities don dey subjected to di highest heat alert. Authorities don advise 13 regions, wey include Lombardy and Emilia, say make dem no go outside during di hottest periods of di day. For Lombardy, dem don ban working outdoors from 12:30 to 16:00 on hot days on building sites, roads and farms until September. Temperatures for Greece don dey approach 40C for several days and wildfires hit several coastal towns near di capital Athens dey destroy homes and dat dey force pipo to evacuate. England experience hottest June on record - Met Office England don experience dia warmest June on record, Met Office announce on Tuesday, while di UK has a whole see di second warmest June since records start for 1884. For England, mean temperature of 16.9C set one new record for di hottest temperature experienced for di month of June. According to provisional data, di Met Office say di whole of di UK mean temperature of 15.2C na di second highest on record for June. Met Office add: "Average daily maximum temperatures also dey well-above di long-term meteorological average for June, wit England recording dia third highest and UK dia sixth highest average temperature since 1884." For Germany, di kontri meteorological service warn say di temperatures fit reach almost 38C on Tuesday and Wednesday - further potentially record-breaking temperatures. Di heatwave go down for Rhine River - one major shipping route – wey reduce di amount cargo ships wey fit transport and raising freighting costs. Kontris in and around di Balkans also dey struggle wit di intense heat, although temperatures don begin cool. Dem also report wildfires for Montenegro. While di heatwave na potential health issue, e also dey impact di environment. Higher temperatures for di Adriatic Sea dey encourage invasive species like di poisonous lionfish, e also dey cause further stress on alpine glaciers wey already dey shrink at record rates. UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, bin sama warning on Monday say di heatwave don highlight di need for climate adaptation. "Rising temperatures, rising seas, floods, droughts, and wildfires threaten our rights to life, to health, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and much more," e tell di UN Human Rights Council. Heatwaves dey become more common due to human-caused climate change, according to di UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Extreme hot weather go continue to happun – and go become even more intense - as di planet continue to warm, e tok. Richard Allan, Professor of Climate Science for di University of Reading for UK, explain say di rising greenhouse gas levels dey make am harder for di planet to lose excess heat. "Di warmer, thirstier atmosphere dey more effective at drying soils, wey mean say heatwaves dey intensify, wit moderate heat events now becoming extreme." In pictures: Europe endure scorching heatwave
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
What the British could learn from Europe about keeping cool in a heatwave
It's hot. With a so-called 'heat dome' currently covering much of Europe (the result of a high pressure front trapping super-warm air in one place for days – or even weeks – at a time), the mercury across the continent has soared – with Spain reporting highs of 46C, wildfires scorching eastern Turkey, and 'unprecedented' heat alerts released across France. July 1 sees the heatwave's fifth consecutive day in the UK, where temperatures have exceeded those in Barbados, Jamaica and Mexico – resulting in the hottest-ever start to Wimbledon (at 32.9C), as highs of a whopping 35C are forecast in London and across the south east. It goes without saying that Britain is not built for extreme heat. Our buildings are thick-walled, our people thick-blooded, our food warm and hearty, our train tracks… well, they're not great in rain or snow either – but in extraordinarily hot weather, they melt. So, when the temperature rises into the 30s and beyond, we cling to routine, turn on the fan, and wilt – a land of sweltering stoicism. But it needn't be that way. Our continental cousins have long been dealing with scorching summers, and over the centuries, they've learnt a thing or two about how to keep cool. True, it helps when your nation's basic infrastructure is geared towards hot summers (adapted working hours, in-built air-conditioning, al fresco culture), but there are nevertheless plenty of simple day-to-day dos and don'ts which hot and bothered Britons would do well to adopt. Our destination experts share the best of the bunch. Portugal Do… Keep the sun out With temperatures rising up to 47C in some parts of Portugal, people are meticulous about closing their curtains or shutters during the day on whatever side the sun shines in, then opening all the windows at night to allow air to circulate. Have a cold one To cool off in the hot weather, big, frosty beers are the Portuguese go-to, with gin and tonic or sangria flowing later in the day. It might feel too hot to eat, but you only have to sniff the Portuguese summer air to know that the traditional meal of sardines – light, flavoursome and grilled outdoors – make the perfect summer food.
