Clowns In My Coffee

People who know me are used to my largely pointless complaining about the heat in North Carolina in the summer. I walk to work, and I’m prone to perspire, so by the time I get in the front door of the air-conditioned office I’m a sweaty wreck. I’ve non-seriously asked why anybody before the era of air conditioning would want to live in this part of the world (and don’t bother pointing out to me that there are places that are much, much worse on this score). I spend my summers waiting for the sweet, cool release provided by the annual invasion of cold air masses from Canada.

Of course, latitude and natural topology are important here, but the contemporary heat-retaining urban/suburban concrete slab landscape certainly isn’t helping. Put another way, passive solar technology is already in widespread use in urban “heat islands,” only in many places, it makes things worse rather than better. You can watch Atlanta help create thunderstorms.

I’ve been able to test the heat island effect out on an anecdotal basis by trying longer but more well-shaded routes to work, and I did notice some improvement (there’s no escaping the cruel, cruel humidity). Of course, that particular study is worth the paper it’s printed on, so it’s somewhat gratifying to see actual numbers on the effect of shade trees on temperature.