From St. George to Salt Lake, many Utah cities are projected to reach triple digits this week as another heat wave settles over the West. The rest of July is expected to bring above-average temperatures to Utah, as well, according to the latest climate outlook from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Even within cities, temperatures can vary widely. A heat map created with the help of volunteers showed temperatures in Salt Lake City varied as much as 15 degrees between different parts of town on a single day in July 2023.
Temperature variation has a lot to do with the way a city is built.
“When we had these tall buildings and when we have very busy traffic in those regions, they have very high temperatures,” said Wei Zhang, Utah State University assistant professor of climate science and one of the researchers working on the heat mapping initiative.
As places like Salt Lake City and St. George continue to grow, the addition of new buildings can make things even hotter.
“Many cities [are] still doing urbanization. So urbanization means that they're transferring that green spaces into built environment,” said Zhang.
Extreme heat can pose serious health risks, including heat stroke and burns, as well as strain infrastructure like the power grid.
With the help of a $2.3 million grant from the National Integrated Heat Health Information System, Utah State University scientists will continue their urban heat mapping efforts. The grant will facilitate partnerships with other institutions to share knowledge and create more community research projects to collect data and improve forecasting models.
Previous mapping research has helped NIHHS create tools the public can use to improve heat resilience by showing their current heat risk and connecting them to resources.
Zhang hopes the data will encourage cities to take action. But even with the help of high-tech mapping, Zhang said sometimes the best solutions to cool things down are also the simplest.
“The easiest way is to have more green spaces, to plant more trees and plant more grasses.”
