Category: Heat

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Five Threats in Five Places

Coastal erosion in Pacifica, drought in Brentwood, fires in the North Bay, flooding in Union City, and urban heat in San Jose. Anissa Foster takes us on a revealing virtual tour.

Valley Cities Beat Back the Heat

In the capital region and Silicon Valley, two cities have been experimenting with cooler roofs, walls and leafy canopies. Turns out cooling measures in one spot help those downwind.

Muggy Days, Sleepless Nights

Climate modeling has shown that the extreme heat events in the state’s future will be accompanied by more humidity, making it hard for coastal residents, unaccustomed to heat, to chill.

Dryer Vents Blow Hot Air & Microplastics

New research confirms that air vents on tumble dryers – rather than washing machines – may be a leading source of microplastic fibers from clothing in the environment. The insidious little particles are being found, among other places, in ocean-caught fish, beer, and even fecal samples of newborn babies.  

Trees Tell A Tale of Two Cities

Trees do far more than add shade and property value to a city block; they can remove harmful pollutants from the air, reduce flooding, and perhaps most crucially in a changing climate, they can reduce heat. A 2019 investigation by NPR found that Oakland’s poorer neighborhoods are almost universally hotter than its richer regions (in fact, the city had one of the strongest correlations between heat and income in the country).

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