Cooling center

Interior of a large hall in Los Angeles Central Library
Los Angeles Central Library, a designated cooling center.

A cooling center is an air-conditioned public or private space to temporarily deal with the adverse health effects of extreme heat weather conditions, like the ones caused by heat waves.[1][2] Cooling centers are one of the possible mitigation strategies to prevent hyperthermia caused by heat, humidity, and poor air quality.[3]

As the danger of heat waves has risen in the public consciousness, cooling centers are increasingly used in larger cities such as Los Angeles,[1] New York City,[4] Chicago,[5] Boston,[6] and Toronto,[7][8] as well as less urban population areas.[3][9] Cooling centers may also be used in places like Portland and Seattle where home air conditioning is rare but summer can bring temperatures exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) for several days.[10][11] Similarly, during the 2018 heat wave and fires that reached northern Scandinavia, a supermarket in Finland was temporarily used as a cooling center.[12]

As various studies have projected more intense, more frequent, and longer-lasting heat waves in the future, many state and federal governments in the US would be including cooling centers as part of their heat adaptation strategy and warning system.[13]

  1. ^ a b "Cooling Centers | 211LA". 211la.org. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
  2. ^ Derakhshan, Sahar; Bautista, Trisha N.; Bouwman, Mari; Huang, Liana; Lee, Lily; Tarczynski, Jo; Wahagheghe, Ian; Zeng, Xinyi; Longcore, Travis (2023-01-01). "Smartphone locations reveal patterns of cooling center use as a heat mitigation strategy". Applied Geography. 150: 102821. Bibcode:2023AppGe.15002821D. doi:10.1016/j.apgeog.2022.102821. ISSN 0143-6228. S2CID 254332830.
  3. ^ a b "Excessive Heat Prompts Opening of Cooling Centers" (PDF) (Press release). Anne Arundel County Office of Emergency Management. August 11, 2016.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Find a Cooling Center". New York City Office of Emergency Management. The City of New York. 2013. Archived from the original on 2010-07-04.
  5. ^ "City Service: City Cooling Centers". City of Chicago: The City of Chicago's Official Site. City of Chicago. 2010–2016. Archived from the original on 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  6. ^ "Heat Safety". City of Boston. July 25, 2016.
  7. ^ "Map: Cooling centres and swimming pools open in Toronto". Global National. 2012-06-19. Archived from the original on 2013-01-24. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  8. ^ Shum, David (July 7, 2016). "Extended heat warning prompts cooling centres to open in Toronto". Global News. Corus Entertainment Inc. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  9. ^ "Cooling Centers". Keep Cool Illinois. State of Illinois. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-08-13. Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  10. ^ "List of cooling centers in Western Washington". KIRO7. Cox Media Group. August 16, 2012. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  11. ^ Office of the Mayor (June 25, 2015). "Cooling shelter locations announced ahead of heat wave" (Press release). City of Seattle. Archived from the original on July 19, 2015. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
  12. ^ Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen (August 3, 2018). "Europe deals with heatwave from Portugal to a Finnish supermarket". Reuters. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).