Urban Heat Island Management Study

Texas Trees Foundation – Cities do not cause heat waves – they amplify them. Human activities on climate at the city/regional scale, accounting for both land surface changes and emissions of greenhouses gases, may be twice as great as the impacts of greenhouse gases alone.

The ramifications of urban heat adversely affect public health, longevity of infrastructure, public opinion, and our economy. With rising temperatures come higher costs for energy and a threat to our energy supply.

Key findings from the study include:

• Sustained High Temps. Hottest areas of Dallas measured an AVERAGE HIGH of 101°F and LOW of nearly 80°F for five full months of the year.
• Heat Kills. Heat-related deaths peaked at 52 in 2011 in Dallas County. Heat-related deaths in the United States account for more deaths annually than all other natural disasters combined.
• Trees Cool. Tree planting in the hottest areas with high density residential was found to reduce deaths by more than 20 percent by merely dropping temperature alone.