Nights in Las Vegas Are Becoming Dangerously Hot
By Ronda Kaysen and Aatish Bhatia, The New York Times.
Excerpt: Each year, heat kills far more Americans than hurricanes, floods, tornadoes or the cold. When it’s hot, our hearts work hard to cool us, redirecting blood to the surface of our skin. But when nights are hot, our hearts don’t get a break, working on overdrive and depriving other organs of blood. In July, Las Vegas recorded its hottest ever temperature at 120 degrees. Even more alarming: For three straight nights, the mercury never dipped below 94 degrees. “Everybody looks at the high temperatures, but the overnight lows kind of sneak up on you,” said Matt Woods, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Las Vegas. This June and July, nights in Las Vegas stayed above 79 degrees for all but seven days. ...hot nights are something more people are experiencing: No American major metro area has grown as much as Las Vegas has over the last three decades. ...That growth has translated to more roads, more cars, more houses — across a sprawling area — creating one of the most intense urban heat island effects in the United States. At night, the heat trapped inside asphalt and buildings exhales back into neighborhoods, making the city 20 to 25 degrees hotter than the surrounding desert....