Cooling centers run by the city of Phoenix have had nearly 17,000 visits since opening their doors in May, according to city data.
Phoenix is running a 24-hour cooling center downtown and is offering extended hours at three libraries for heat relief. The sites are set to stay open through September.
At the same point last summer, Phoenix’s extended-hour heat relief sites had reported about 18% more visits than the sites have seen so far this summer. The decrease in visits this summer could be due to lower temperatures, said David Hondula, director of Phoenix’s Office of Heat Response and Mitigation…