Does Lubbock Have Heat Islands?

The weather is beyond hot, but believe it not it can get a lot of hotter!  That is, if the part of town you're living in has a heat island.  Ok, I know you're asking yourself - "what in the heck is a heat island?"  Well the EPA has described it as...

"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."

So, if you are feeling extra hot downtown standing between buildings or the highway,  you may be on a very small Hub city heat island. Heat islands do not pose that much of problem here in Lubbock, but other cities in the state are suffering.  According to Axios, Houston...we have a heat island problem...

"About 73% of Houston-area residents live in an area where the "urban heat island" effect raises temperatures by 8° or more, per a new analysis by nonprofit climate research group Climate Central, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick reports"

Texas summers are bad enough, when it's even hotter in urban areas it can be deadly. So what can you do? Well, according to Axios, some officials are taking action.

"Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones is working to plant 1,200 new trees in the underserved Alief community to help combat the high heat. "Alief on average is 10° hotter than other parts of Harris County," Briones said when announcing the initiative in April. "This investment will help address the heat island that we are experiencing here in Alief."

So more trees and less concrete is one way to try and stop a heat island situation. Well, Fox Weather put together a list of the top five cities effected by Heat Islands: New York is number one, followed by Houston (2) , Los Angeles (3) , Dallas (4) and Chicago (5) . I looks like they are going to need a lot of trees!