article_snippet: The term describes what happens when city temperatures are driven higher by heat from traffic and air conditioners and by warmth, stored during the day in roads and buildings, which is released at night.
article_snippet: The term describes what happens when city temperatures are driven higher by heat from traffic and air conditioners and by warmth, stored during the day in roads and buildings, which is released at night.
article_snippet: In some places, the buildup combines with a summer heatwave to inflict sweltering discomfort and heat stress.
article_snippet: In some places, the buildup combines with a summer heatwave to inflict sweltering discomfort and heat stress.
article_snippet: Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, specialists in China and the United States said urban heat island creates a vicious circle.
article_snippet: The hotter it is, the more people crank up the more people air conditioning, which in turn disgorges more heat into the street, and so on.
article_snippet: warmer than the surrounding countryside.
article_snippet: The researchers sounded a note of caution, pointing out that urban heat island has a basket of factors, some of which are sketchy.
article_snippet: Particulate pollution, city layout, building design, energy efficiency and parks are also believed to play a part in worsening or mitigating it.