TULSA, Okla. — On sweltering summer days, the focus is often on the afternoon high temperature and the maximum heat index.
But, that's not the whole story, especially if you live in or around a city. Why? More urban environments don't cool as readily at night. It's aptly called the Urban Heat Island Effect.
The sun evenly heats a region from above, then the incoming solar radiation is absorbed at different rates based on the type of surface it hits.
According to the EPA, human-made materials in cities like pavement or roofing tend to reflect less solar energy. What does that mean? Urban environments absorb and retain heat beyond daytime hours than trees, vegetation, and other natural elements, which are more plentiful in rural areas.
WATCH: How the Urban Heat Island Effect keeps the Tulsa area hotter in summer:
Widespread metal and concrete surfaces in a city release heat back into the air at night.
Meaning -as the sun sets, the nightly cooling trend is counteracted by the heat release, so it stays warmer overnight and into the early morning hours in a city or just downwind of one.
Tulsans see this with morning temps that didn't dip below 80° the past few mornings while surrounding small communities saw cooler temps.
In fact, as the metropolitan area grows, record warm overnight temperatures become more frequent in the past few decades, which why the City of Tulsa continues to add trees and vegetation to limit the heat island effect.
Prolonged heat stress from stifling days into very muggy nights can be detrimental, if not deadly, to vulnerable people without access to reliable air-conditioning. This is why it is essential to check on them and pets around the clock in peak summer heat, especially in urban environments.
For a look at just how hot it will be around Tulsa in the coming days, click here.
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