The Dangers of Extreme Heat in Inland California
9/24/2024 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
Inland California cities face increasing extreme heat risks due to climate change.
As climate change drives dangerous heatwaves, California’s inland communities like Lancaster, Palmdale, and Fresno are experiencing more high-heat days, putting thousands at risk for heat-related illnesses. A recent report shows these cities, popular for affordable housing, are unprepared for rising temperatures. By 2050, they could see over 25 extreme heat days annually, up from single digits.
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SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal
The Dangers of Extreme Heat in Inland California
9/24/2024 | 2mVideo has Closed Captions
As climate change drives dangerous heatwaves, California’s inland communities like Lancaster, Palmdale, and Fresno are experiencing more high-heat days, putting thousands at risk for heat-related illnesses. A recent report shows these cities, popular for affordable housing, are unprepared for rising temperatures. By 2050, they could see over 25 extreme heat days annually, up from single digits.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipIn California, inland communities with big population booms wi.. the most high heat days under climate change projections.
The combination puts more people at risk of heat-related illnesses, and many cities are unprepared.
Extreme heat contributed to more than 5,000 hospitalizations over the past decade, and the health effects fall disproportionately on Black people, Latinos, and Native Americans, according to a recent state report.
Low and middle-income Californians looking to expand their families are moving inland in search of affordable housing and more space, but the move inland comes at a price.
Dangerous heat driven by climate change accompanied by sky-high electric bills.
CalMatters identify the communities most at risk of extreme heat combined with growing populations.
The results, Lancaster and Palmdale in LA County, Apple Valley, Victorville and Hesperia in San Bernardino County, Lake Elsinore and Murrieta in Riverside County, and the Central Valley cities of Azalea, Fresno, Clovis, and Tulare.
By 2050, neighborhoods in those 11 inland cities are expected to expected to experience 25 or more high-heat days every year.
Death Valley, the hottest place on earth, reached record temperatures in July averaging 108.5 degrees with a high of 121.9 tying a 1917 record.
In comparison, Palmdale by 2050 is projected to have 25 days where the maximum temperature exceeds 105, up from 9 days in the 2010s.
A 2015 state law required municipalities to update their general plans, safety plans or hazard mitigation plans to include steps considering the effects of climate change, but only about half of California's 540 cities and counties have complied with the new plans as of last year.
With CalMatters, I'm Alejandra Reyes-Velarde.
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SoCal Matters is a local public television program presented by PBS SoCal