Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Podcast: Urban heat island effect hits Las Vegas hard

Triple Digit Temperatures in Las Vegas

Christopher DeVargas

A woman cools off in a water mister near Paris Hotel & Casino, on the Las Vegas Strip, Monday June 14, 2021, during an excessive heat wave warning.

Editor’s note: We interviewed experts, policy makers and community organizers about how climate change is impacting the mental and physical health of residents. These conversations will be presented in “Heating Up,” a podcast with the Sun’s Arleigh Rodgers. At the end of the series, the interviews will be presented in story form. Enjoy.

A 2020 study from UNLV’s Brookings Mountain West and The Lincy Institute on the urban heat island effect found that Las Vegas “ranked as the most intense urban heat island in the United States in both daytime and nighttime metrics between 2004 and 2013.”

The same study found the average annual temperature in Las Vegas has increased each year since 1970.

In this episode of “Heating Up,” the Sun’s Arleigh Rodgers speaks with UNLV professors Chris Kearney, chair of the Department of Psychology, and Christopher Stream, director of the School of Public Policy and Leadership, about the impact of the heat island effect.

They detailed how the urban heat island effect — a circumstance that makes cities and their pavement, buildings, and other heat-absorbing infrastructure hotter than neighboring rural areas — impacts the homeless and residents with mental health disorders.

Take a listen:

Las Vegas Sun

Heating Up: Urban heat island effect hits Las Vegas hard

In this episode of “Heating Up,” the Sun’s Arleigh Rodgers speaks with UNLV professors Chris Kearney, chair of the Department of Psychology, and Christopher Stream, director of the School of Public Policy and Leadership, about the impact of the heat island effect.