More than 170 million people are under thermal alerts in the United States this week, temperatures reaching record heights across the country. Tampa, Florida, recently reached a record of 100 degrees on Sunday, and many cities across the country, from New York, Kansas City, in Las Vegas should see temperatures in the 90s or even 100 degrees.
Extreme heat waves are no longer anomalies – it becomes the norm. Climate change of human origin has at least doubled the number of extreme heat days in 195 countries and territories compared to a world without climate change, according to a central study of the climate.
“What we have experienced in the past is that no matter where you are, you are going to experience heat waves,” explains Melissa Guardaro, complementary faculty of the Arizona State University School of Sustainability. “So I think that it is better to prepare not only for emergencies such as heat waves and domes of heat, but also a long -term increase in urban heat.”
How do the hottest states adapt to extreme heat?
Extreme heat kills more people in the United States than any other natural disaster linked to weather conditions – but it is still not recognized as a “disaster” under the Stafford Act, the federal law which establishes how the government reacts to natural disasters. “In many places, you do not have a person or a department specifically responsible for coordinating thermal efforts throughout the municipality,” explains Guardaro.
Many cities have resumed the coat to solve the problem for themselves. In 2021, Miami, in Florida, became the first city in the world to appoint a Head of Heat. Shortly after, Phoenix, Arizon. – which generally sees the summer temperatures climb in the triple figures – David’s hondoule named as a heat attenuation officer. The rest of Arizona quickly followed suit: in 2024, the state became the first in the United States to appoint a heat chief. “The Order is the city of Phoenix,” explains Guardaro, who notes that the city now has an entire office dedicated to heat attenuation.
Other cities implement a range of solutions. Jacksonville, Florida, has taken initiatives to connect people with resources such as cooling centers during a heat wave, explains Guardaro. Bridgeport, Conn. Created “fresh corridors”, planting trees and uses reflective paint to create shaded and fresh pedestrian paths. And New York City takes measures to protect the most vulnerable to extreme heat – distributing “cool kits” to outdoor workers who includes sunscreen, electrolytes, ice pack and a cooler towel as part of a pilot program last summer.
Is anyone away from extreme heat?
Even states that could have previously been able to be immune to extreme heat – San Francisco, generally covered with fresh fog, should see 7 to 25 days of extreme heat per season in the middle of the century if high emissions continue.
In many cases, extreme heat is already there: in 2021, hundreds of people died when temperatures reached more than 100 degrees in the Pacific with soft temperament. A number of cities, including Caribou, Maine and Grand Junction, Colorado had their warmest summers ever recorded in 2024.
How the cities of the world react to heat waves
In the world, Athens, Dhaka and Santiago are some of the cities that have appointed their own heat agents in recent years. Work is “at the intersection of emergency, public health and town planning interventions,” explains Gregory Welenius, director of the Center for Climate and Health at the University of Boston. “These offices are important to collect people from different units to have a more targeted approach, rather than each department that does what they think best.”
Cities also take other measures to combat extreme heat. In India, where the number of people exposed to extreme heat continues to increase, the city of Ahmedabad has developed an early alert system capable of issuing warnings seven days before a heat wave. The system, combined with policy changes, has dropped heat -related deaths in the city about 20%.
In 2022, Seville, in Spain, made the decision to start appointing heat waves, as part of a system of categorization of heat waves designed to better monitor and deploy resources during extreme heat waves.
Find out more: Zoe, the first heat wave named in the world, arrives in Seville
It is important that cities are developing long -term solutions to help reduce heat, says Welenius. “You cannot be in emergency mode all the time.”
The big cities of Germany adopt an approach to the “sponge city” of flood and heat, using heat surfaces resistant to heat and light -colored buildings to reflect heat. In Antwerp, developers must now follow the codes of the building that take into account the resilience of heat – buildings, buildings are necessary to install green roofs or paint exteriors in the colors of light and heat.
Cities can start small and build their heat plans along the way, explains Guardaro. “When you start chaining [the small things] Together strategically, it ends up being something that is really great in the long term. »»
