Heat is nothing new to Houston, but it can always be dangerous if you don’t take the proper precautions. This week feels like temperatures soared near 110 degrees!
Memorial Park was filled with walkers and runners who were drenched in sweat, and some searched for shade.
“She got into the shade, and she said, ‘Thank God,’” Emma D. said, who was running with her friend in Memorial Park Wednesday.
Shade feels cooler, because it protects us from UV rays that can make it feel 10 to 15 degrees warmer.
Luckily for visitors in Memorial Park paths are lined with trees. Trees are an important part of a city’s infrastructure—they act as shade cooling communities, produce oxygen and they also absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that warms the atmosphere.
Kinder Institute research says, “healthy trees prevent roughly 1,200 heat-related deaths and many more heat-related illnesses each year. Heat kills more people than any other type of extreme weather. Scientists predict the largest U.S. cities will see those deaths increase by 70% to more than 100% by 2050.”
Rice University’s Kinder Institute says Houston has a 14% difference of tree canopy cover between wealthy neighborhoods and poor neighborhoods.
You can check where your neighborhood ranks here.