Many Virginia students have already returned to their classrooms for the new school year. And if they haven’t yet, they will soon.
With many divisions across the state starting back earlier and earlier in the year, students are more frequently having to deal with hot temperatures as they come back to school, too.
That’s the focus of some new research from Climate Central. The group looked into cooling demand during the back-to-school period using a metric known as cooling degree days – or CDD values.
“It’s the amount of degrees above 65 every day,” says Jen Brady – senior data analyst with Climate Central. “So, if it was 80 degrees today, the cooling degree days for today would be 15 – so it’s those added up. What you can do with it in composite is find out how much more heating or cooling demand [there is.] What we’re trying to look at is is that increasing? Is the cooling demand going up?”
The group analyzed the change in cooling degree days during the back-to-school period – mid July through early September – across the country since 1970.
“We pretty much found it’s getting hotter around the country,” Brady says. “Looking in Virginia, every major city we looked at went up. Roanoke went up the highest – about 30% since 1970. That’s a substantial increase in the amount of time that you would need to cool a building.”
I asked how climate change is influencing those warmer temperatures. Brady said the biggest impacts are on temperature extremes.
“So, you may still have a cool day here or there; you may still have an unusually cool day or set of days. But what you’re seeing is a lot more extreme highs. The cooling degree days in particular really captures that. Maybe before you never had a day of 85-80 in September. Now, you may see 90-95 degree days. We’re also seeing more of them,” Brady explains.
Hot temperatures are particularly difficult to handle in some school divisions, she adds.
“There are a lot of schools – depending on where you are in the country and really, how much money the school system has, whether or not they have air conditioners. If you have to spend money on air conditioning bills, you’re going to have less money to spend on schooling. And we all know that’s a limited resource to begin with.”
Brady says there are some things individual school districts can do to try and help.
“I work on urban heat islands – is there a lot of concrete and cement around your school? Can you put up additional trees that may provide some shading for your school building and your recess area? So, there’s kind of little solutions like that – you know, do you have to change the school day?”
Some Virginia school divisions are turning to grant applications to help pay for HVAC upgrades. Richmond Public Schools was recently awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for updates at more than 20 schools there.
Brady says the report points to the need for students and school districts to adapt – as the warming trend is only expected to continue. She says even if we stopped burning fossil fuels today, there are still plenty of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to keep us on the upward swing.
Drought conditions are improving...
Heavy rain across much of Virginia last week from the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby has helped drought conditions.
The latest update from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows southeastern and southside Virginia – in addition to some areas in the far southwestern corner of the state – have no level of drought or dryness right now.
The Shenandoah Valley and portions of northern Virginia still have severe drought conditions right now – that’s level three on the five-point scale. However, that is down from the extreme level seen in last week’s update.
Those areas have been the hardest hit by drought in recent weeks. Federal, emergency loans have been made available to those in the farming and agricultural industries there to help mitigate any losses or response efforts.
State officials are also altering drought advisories thanks to the heavy rain last week.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality has lifted those advisories for more than 70 counties and cities across the state.
A drought warning advisory remains for the Shenandoah Valley – and a watch is in place for the southwestern corner of the state.
Officials say some areas of the Commonwealth received more than eight inches of rain from Debby – allowing reservoirs to recover. Groundwater levels in the warning and watch areas still need more rain to fully recover, however.
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