NORTH LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Temperature in Las Vegas is officially measured at Harry Reid International Airport in the shade. So even on the hottest day ever recorded — 117 degrees in 2013 and 2017 — it's going to feel a lot hotter in direct sunlight.
Elevation change does influence temperature disparities in the valley. In theory, if the air is dry, that would be about five degrees per 1,000 feet in elevation change. On average, that heat will produce an 11-degree difference between the hottest neighborhoods and the coolest neighborhoods.
But here's the kicker.
Due to the Urban Heat Island Effect, some parts of Las Vegas will see an even bigger concentration of heat based on the type of infrastructure in the neighborhoods. According to the Southern Nevada Heat Resilience Lab, (SNHRL), a program out of the Desert Research Institute, the most prominent part of town for this effect is on the east side, near the urban core.
"Heat in Las Vegas is a systemic issue. So when you talk about heat, you end up talking about housing, affordability, energy costs, food costs," Ariel Choinard, SNHRL lead, told Channel 13.
Henderson, North Las Vegas, and parts of downtown Las Vegas see the biggest concentrations of what's known as heat vulnerability. Not only do these areas experience the impacts of the urban heat island effect, they are often more economically stressed with fewer resources and in older homes.
Here's an RTC Study that analyzed four of these sorts of neighborhoods. They found that in one heat-stressed area of North Las Vegas, the medium annual income is just $28,000.
“People sometimes have to choose between putting food on the table or keeping their house at a safe and comfortable temperature," Choinard said.
Choinard is in her second year of running SNHRL. She said the program is intended to be the "home base" for heat in Las Vegas, in other words, the connective tissue between local agencies and organizations when heat waves move through southern Nevada.
“We're working with communities to identify how they're impacted by heat and where there might be some climate-resilient solutions, adaptations and interventions that we can take. So it doesn't have such a huge impact on people's lives," Choinard explained.
This year, Choinard said the lab is implementing more community listening sessions to get more qualitative data on how locals experience extreme heat.
“Although everybody is exposed to extreme heat here, the way you experience it very much depends on who you are and where you live and what kind of resources you have to cope with that extreme heat," she said.
Another compounded challenge of addressing heat inequity in Las Vegas is temperatures are trending warmer across the world due to human-influenced climate change. According to a NASA analysis, where raw surface air temperature data is acquired by tens of thousands of weather stations, 2023 was the hottest year on record.
“Temperatures year-on-year trend upwards but what's particularly challenging is the nighttime lows are higher so that it doesn't cool down as much as it used to, maybe, in the past," Choinard said.
Over the past five decades, Las Vegas has seen both warmer days and warmer nights. Even this year, every day of the first two weeks of June experienced above average highs.
Climate scientists expect temperatures to continue warming as emissions continue to trend upward globally. Not only will the impacts include stronger heat waves, but other climate extremes such as stronger storms and worsened drought due to increased evapo-transpiration.
