One Of Nation's Top "Heat Islands" Is Burlington, Vermont

A view of  Burlington, Vermont from Lake Champlain

on Wednesday. Notice all the dark colored buildings.

These dark colors exacerbate the summertime heat

island effect to a surprising degree.

 Nobody considers Burlington, Vermont a broiling hot city, on the level of say, Phoenix or Baghdad.  Burlington is far more known for the bitter winter winds that sweep off of Lake Champlain. 

One recent study though had a surprising result: Burlington has among the nation's worst "heat island" effects in the nation. 

The heat island effect is the idea that asphalt, buildings and other urban development collects summer heat much more than the surrounding leafy or agricultural countryside.  That means the city is hotter in the summer than those places way out of town. 

It turns out the difference in summer temperatures between Burlington, and say, a woodsy spot in Monkton or something, is about seven degrees on average, according to a study by Climate Central.

Of 159 cities examined by Climate Central, Burlington had the 13th greatest heat island effect. The magnitude of the heat island effect in Burlington is on par with Baltimore and Miami.

That's certainly not to say Burlington is as hot as those cities. It's just that the difference in temperature between the core of all these cities and the countryside is similar. 

Burlington's high ranking in this study is surprising, given the cool breezes that sometimes come off Lake Champlain. 

Moreover, cities with lots of trees and parks tend to have a somewhat more subdued heat island.  Trees and grassy surfaces tend to have a cooling effect, and Burlington certainly has lots of trees. Cities with tall skyscrapers, like New York and Houston and Miami, tend to trap more heat than low rise cities.  Burlington doesn't have skyscrapers, so that's not the issue either

The problem probably is that Burlington is an old Northeastern city. That means lots of brick facades, asphalt roofs, dark colored walls, all of which absorb summer heat.

More newly built cities tend to at least make attempts at minimizing the heat island effect by painting walls and roofs lighter colors. That's something Burlington can try.

We do have long winters, but the lighter colors won't make the interior of buildings colder, especially in structures with decent insulation.

But lighter colors, or rooftop gardens and other mitigating factors can help reduce the suffering hot summer days can cause in Burlington. 

Overall, summers are getting hotter under the weight of climate change, so reducing the effects of heat islands will benefit everyone who lives in Burlington or any other city. 

After a relatively cool July, summer is returning to Vermont, and you will certainly feel the effects of the heat island effect once again if you are in Burlington during the upcoming week or more.  High temperatures for the next several days at least will be in the 80s. Hottest in Burlington, of course! 

Japan Olympic Organizers Misled Athletes, World On Tokyo Heat, Humidity

What were they thinking?  Olympics in hot, humid 
Tokyo is proving dangerous for athletes 

 The Olympics in Tokyo, Japan are wilting in the heat.  

That should have been expected, giveen the location of the event. But it's even hotter and more humid than many people anticipated.  

Olympic organizers in Japan might have sold the athletes and the world, a bill of goods when it comes to describing the summer weather. 

Japan's proposal for the Olympics included this gem:  "Meteorological conditions during the proposed Games-time would be reasonable."

"With many days of mild and sunny weather, this period provides an ideal climate for athletes to perform their best," the proposal also noted.

The reality is some athletes have already really suffered. Russian archer Svetlana Gomboeva passed out from heat stroke. A number of triathletes collapsed as they completed their race, says Fox News. 

Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt vomited and collapsed as he finished the triathlon, winning the Gold Medal

Daytime highs in Tokyo this week have been in the low to mid 90s with dew points in the mid-70s. That translates to a heat index of at least 100 degrees.  

Tennis star Novak Djokovic wilting in the high heat
and humidity of this year's Tokyo Olympics.

Tokyo is a vast urban heat island.  The concrete, asphalt and steel collect heat, making the city hotter than green space in the hinterlands.  Emissions for cars and zillions of air conditioners make it even hotter. 

Then at night, all that concrete and pavement retains the heat, so temperatures don't drop at night, like they tend to do where I live, in leafy rural Vermont.

It's worth noting that the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo were delayed until October to avoid the worst of the summer heat. 

The 2004 Olympics in Athens had similar temperatures, but the humidity was lower. Higher humidity is more dangerous because sweat doesn't evaporate off the body easily.  When sweat evaporates quickly, it has a cooling effect on the body. 

The heat in Tokyo is up there, but not unprecedented. Other parts of Japan, however, are suffering through record smashing heat. Last week on the northern island of Hokkaido, it reached 97 degrees in Asahikawa, the hottest day on record there.