As extreme heat claims more lives during ruthless summers in the region, Southern Nevada is upping the ante in its tree planting efforts. But a new study suggests trees alone may not be enough to make a meaningful difference in the daytime.
While Las Vegas’ trees can cool surrounding air temperatures up to nearly 35 degrees at night and shade can cool people under trees, the study found that air temperature cooling is negligible, at best, during the day. It’s too hot for trees to release moisture via transpiration.
“When you measure air temperature, the cooling effect of trees is usually very, very low,” said Juan Henao Castaneda, a postdoctoral researcher at the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and the study’s lead author. “Reducing air temperature below one degree or two degrees is hard for any of the most common adaptation measures.”…