PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 10, 2024
Global temperatures are rising everywhere because of human-caused climate change, but the built environment is amplifying the temperatures in many cities, even in temperate climates like Maine where most people do not think of extreme heat as a major threat to the population. The average daily temperature in Maine will rise 2-4 degrees by 2050 and up to 10 degrees by 2100. Our summers will be hotter and marked by more extreme heat days: the average summer high in turn-of-the-century Portland will feel like Scranton, Pennsylvania, does now, or about 8.9 degrees hotter. The most concentrated heat island in Maine can be found in Portland, where the built environment amplifies the base “field of green” temperature.