Climate scientist Juan Declet-Barreto believes the Valley’s heat is hot, but for some it’s just a bit hotter.
“It’s hot in Phoenix. Even though it’s hot in Phoenix – intuitively, people know that – it’s not experienced the same way by everybody,” said Declet-Barreto, speaking about the urban heat island effect and its impact in the Valley.
This inequity around how heat is felt in Phoenix can be in many ways traced to the policy of “redlining” during the mid-20th century and still creates an outsized impact on low-income and minority people, mainly in south Phoenix.
