Most Portland students attend school in urban heat zones
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Most K–12 public students in Portland attend schools in extreme urban heat zones, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: The heat island effect can make some neighborhoods notably warmer than others, especially during heat waves like the one we're in currently.
- In Portland, only 18 of the district's 81 school buildings have air conditioning, according to KATU.
Driving the news: About 70% of students in Portland attend schools where the heat island effect increases temperatures by at least 8°, per a new analysis from Climate Central, a climate research group.
- Researchers there examined more than 12,000 schools, with nearly 6.2 million students, in the 65 most populous U.S. cities.
- Louisville, Kentucky (98%); Orlando, Florida (97%) and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (97%) topped the list with nearly all their students attending schools in urban heat zones.
Case in point: Portland Public Schools has been forced to cancel classes or release students early in several of the recent school years due to extreme heat.
Threat level: "Tens of thousands of public schools" need new or upgraded HVAC systems to meet increased cooling needs, per a 2024 Center for American Progress report, to the tune of $4.4 billion.
The big picture: Heat islands amplify the impact and danger of extreme heat events fueled by human-driven climate change, with the built environment absorbing and trapping heat at the hyperlocal level.
- Urban heat islands are more common in lower-income and non-white neighborhoods, researchers have found.