NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — If you look at a temperature map of Middle Tennessee, you will typically see that Nashville has the hottest temperature, despite being north of other cities.

This is caused by the urban heat island effect. The urban heat island effect is caused by the heat absorption of all the roads, parking lots, and buildings within a city. Paved surfaces absorb and hold onto heat much more than grassy and forested areas.

According to meteorologists at News 2 and at the Nashville National Weather Service, this causes Nashville to be a few degrees hotter than the surrounding, more rural areas.

"We have picked up on that; there's a bit of a bias that goes into the forecast for Nashville. Nashville tends to sit about three to four degrees warmer than surrounding locations, which is very interesting, and that is seeing the urban heat island effect in real time as we're forecasting," said Paige Barr, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Nashville.

It's not just Nashville; other large cities, like Memphis and Little Rock, get noticeably hotter during these summer heatwaves.

Leaders in the city of Nashville know this and have been making changes to help keep the city cooler. According to Kendra Abkowitz, the Senior Director of Sustainability for the Office of Mayor Freddie O'Connell, the city, along with local nonprofits, is working to turn paved spaces into green spaces.

"Depaving absolutely is a strategy that can reduce the effects of urban heat islands. We have severe nonprofit partners, but also metro projects that seek to depave. Part of that is included in our parks strategy." Abkowitz told News 2.

Along the depaving, Abkowitz said the Nashville Department of Transportation has been spraying roads in the areas most impacted by the urban heat island effect with a coating that helps reflect some of the sun's energy. She said this spray also helps the durability of the asphalt and helps it last longer.

A few years ago, the city surveyed the temperatures across Nashville to see which areas were the hottest. To see the Nashville heat map, click here.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/nashville-tn-urban-heat-island/