‘Hard to deny’: Nevada is home to nation’s 2 fastest-warming cities
It’s not just Nevadans’ imagination: Two cities in the Silver State are heating up faster than any other city in the nation, scientists have found.
Climate Central, a nonpartisan group of climate scientists, has again put Reno and Las Vegas at the top of its list of cities that have warmed the most since 1970. Reno’s average annual temperature rose by 7.8 degrees and that of Las Vegas jumped by 5.9 degrees, according to the analysis.
The statistics present a compounding issue for the future of Nevada: climate change and the deadly desert heat. Last year, heat contributed to 527 deaths in Southern Nevada recorded by the Clark County coroner’s office, and Las Vegas broke its all-time heat record with a 120-degree day.
“It’s hard to deny the temperatures at this point,” said Tom Albright, Nevada’s deputy state climatologist and a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. “We need to be ready to do something to keep ourselves, our families and our communities safe.”
2024 moved the needle
The climate scientists, in agreement with more than 99 percent of peer-reviewed research, attribute the drastic rise in temperatures to the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which trap heat at the Earth’s surface. Around the globe, fossil fuels are used for electricity, heating, cooling and transportation.
And there’s a stark increase in impact. Carbon dioxide concentrations, on average, are 30 percent higher than they were in 1970, according to the report.
Albright noted that the report’s average temperature grew by a few tenths of a percent compared with Climate Central’s first report comparing numbers from 1970 to 2023 — a testament to the intensity of 2024’s record-shattering summer.
While slashing greenhouse gas emissions to stall climate change is paramount, he said cities in Nevada are trying to deal with the effects of it by preventing heat-related death and illness.
“It’s going to be hot no matter what we do, so what are we going to do to be ready as a community?” Albright said. “It’s the combination of trying to prevent the excess warming and then to deal with it in a way that causes the least harm to people.”
Las Vegas addresses climate crisis
Reno and Las Vegas are doing both.
Marco Velotta, Las Vegas’ chief sustainability officer, pointed to the city’s 2050 master plan that includes key measures to hinder climate change while also dealing with the reality of it.
He stressed the importance of passing Assembly Bill 96, a state law that would require any municipality with 100,000 residents or more to include extreme heat considerations in master plans. The bill passed a Nevada Assembly floor vote on Wednesday.
One of the best antidotes to urban heat is the shade created by trees to combat what’s known as the urban heat island effect, where pavement and buildings amplify high temperatures.
“Tree canopy is probably our best defense with respect to the urban heat island effect,” Velotta said.
The city’s plan calls for the planting of an additional 60,000 trees. It has put in 2,500 so far, Velotta said.
A 2024 U.S. Geological Survey study found that trees provide a more powerful cooling effect in Las Vegas than they do in other hot cities like Miami and Phoenix. If Las Vegas could remove about 20 percent of its heat-trapping pavement and replace it with tree canopy, air temperatures could decline by up to 4 degrees during heat waves, according to the study.
Las Vegas officials are undergoing an inventory of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, but the master plan aims for its city operations to be carbon neutral, or net zero, by 2050. Net zero refers to a state where the carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere is offset with the amount removed, thus not contributing to warming.
Communitywide, Las Vegas set a 28 percent reduction goal for greenhouse gas emissions.
“We’re trying to move the needle,” Velotta said. “Despite some of the issues with respect to drought and urban heat island, they’re being addressed. We’re adapting.”
Biggest little city takes action, too
In Reno, environmental services manager Suzanne Groneman is well aware of Climate Central’s report, and it underscores the work she does in her department.
Rather than target a specific number of trees, the city made a commitment to double its 5.2 percent tree canopy by 2036, she said. The city’s parks and recreation department has staff members dedicated to urban forestry who work on this issue.
One challenge is ensuring that developers commit to planting trees on new subdivisions, Groneman said.
“To really expand that canopy, it’s going to involve private land and people,” she said. “That’s something that we work on all the time, and that’s also a very hard space to regulate.”
The city previously committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 28 percent by 2025, though Groneman said it has fallen short. Washoe County, however, does have a 2050 net zero goal.
Dealing with rising temperatures is a complex issue that requires a wide net of solutions — ones that leaders are still working to find, she said.
“If somebody out there has all those answers, I would love to hear from them,” Groneman said.
Marco Velotta is the son of Review-Journal reporter Rick Velotta.
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.