Nevada heat demands more than cooling centers, lawmakers say

By: Jeniffer Solis

Although Nevada is home to two of the fastest-warming cities in the country – Reno and Las Vegas – the state has taken the fewest steps to protect its population from the effects of climate change.

On Wednesday, researchers told lawmakers that the glaring lack of heat mitigation measures in Reno and Las Vegas has led to major health impacts for Nevadans. In 2023, Southern Nevada reported 307 deaths from heat-related illnesses, a significant increase from 165 heat-related deaths in 2022.

“Heat is a systemic problem here in Southern Nevada, and it can exacerbate existing crises,” Ariel Choinard, head of the Southern Nevada Heat Resilience Lab, said during a joint meeting with the Interim Committee on Health and Human Services and the Interim Committee on Growth and Infrastructure.

In Nevada, however, the heat issue has not been addressed systematically, Choinard said. Nevada cities have taken the fewest steps to protect their populations from the effects of climate change compared to other cities in the Southwest, a fact confirmed by the Fifth National Climate Assessment, mandated by Congress last year.

“Cooling centers are activated when the National Weather Service issues an excessive heat warning, but they are our only response to such a warning. And we don’t know how well this resource is working in our communities, or who it’s actually reaching and when,” Choinard said.

“To get to a cooling center, we’re kind of asking people to expose themselves to more extreme heat just to get to where they might be able to cool down,” she continued.

Choinard said there is no state agency responsible for recommending heat mitigation strategies, leading to a lack of collaboration and coordination. She recommended creating a heat task force that could make recommendations and encourage change in heat response and adaptation.

At community listening sessions, Choinard said Nevadans are looking for systemic approaches to mitigate the heat. Common requests included banning NV Energy’s summer power shutoffs, utility assistance programs, requiring homeowners to weatherize homes and upgrade air conditioning units, and more trees and shade structures along sidewalks and at bus stops.

“While we think heat can make people sick or even kill them, it has other consequences as well,” Choinard told lawmakers. “It impacts people’s mental health because it’s a chronically stressful situation to live with every day. It also impacts rates of domestic violence and maternal and fetal health. The way heat works in our communities is so vast that we need to understand it better.”

This month, Las Vegas had 11 consecutive days with temperatures of 110 degrees or higher, the longest streak on record, according to the Las Vegas Weather Service. Las Vegas also hit 120 degrees in July, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city. While there are year-to-year variables, Nevada is seeing an increasing trend in heat-related deaths and hospitalizations, Choinard said.

“People face very difficult choices when it’s very hot. We know that people have to choose between putting food on the table or keeping their homes at a safe and livable temperature,” Choinard said, adding that extreme heat days put a strain on the body and lead to long-term health consequences.

“Extreme heat can act as a chronic stressor for our communities, and it can also act as an acute shock depending on the duration or severity of the heat event,” she continued.

John Mejia, associate research professor of atmospheric modeling at the Desert Research Institute, said more cities are developing climate adaptation plans to make cities more resilient to extreme heat.

Existing heat models by Nevada researchers are available to lawmakers developing urban planning policies, Mejia said. DRI is working with the Southern Nevada Heat Resilience Lab and others to develop realistic heat mitigation policies, he added.

Part of the problem is the urban heat island effect, a phenomenon separate from — but exacerbated by — climate change that causes higher temperatures in cities due to an abundance of asphalt and sidewalks, but many cities are finding solutions.

For example, the cities of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami and Philadelphia have incorporated “cool roofs” into their building codes. Painting roofs white or “cool roofs” can help reduce heat buildup in cities and rural areas by reflecting heat instead of absorbing it.

“You can achieve cooling similar to outdoor irrigation by adopting cool roofs,” Mejia told lawmakers.

Republican Sen. Robin Titus agreed with that view, calling cool roofs a “common sense” solution.

“It’s a common sense measure that has been taken for a long time. It was necessary to make these big buildings in hot zones white,” Titus said.

Mejia told lawmakers that there are several other solutions that have already been implemented in other cities across the Southwest, including expanding access to rooftop solar, which has been shown to reduce heat by reflecting heat away from roofs, keeping buildings and surrounding areas cooler.

Mejia said incorporating green infrastructure, such as tree planting, could also be part of Nevada cities’ overall heat mitigation and urban resilience strategy.

Urban tree canopy has been proven to effectively cool neighborhoods, Mejia said. His own research on existing tree canopy in the Las Vegas metropolitan area has revealed several areas of vulnerability to extreme heat concentrated in the city of North Las Vegas and East Las Vegas.

“We now know where the trees are actually being planted,” Mejia said. “One option is to target tree planting projects to areas most exposed to extreme heat.”

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misstated the name of Ariel Choinard, head of the Southern Nevada Thermal Resilience Lab. That error has been corrected.

Nevada Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Nevada Current maintains its editorial independence. Contact Editor Hugh Jackson with questions: [email protected]. Follow Nevada Current on Facebook and X.

Reprinted with permission from Nevada Current

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This article was previously published on nevadacurrent.com under a Creative Commons license.

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