2 Valley locales among U.S. cities with highest summer heat risk

Summer is around the corner. Are you ready? According to a new study, Arizona’s three largest cities may not be.

A new analysis by cabinet manufacturing company Highland Cabinetry sought to determine the level of summer heat risk faced by the 70 largest U.S. cities. As anyone who has lived here for a full calendar year might expect, Arizona was well-represented at the top of the rankings. All three Arizona cities to make the study’s population cut — Mesa, Phoenix and Tucson — landed among the top 10 municipalities facing the most risk from rising summer temperatures.

To determine its rankings, Highland Cabinetry weighed factors for each city such as the average summer temperature, the percentage of households with air conditioning, the percentage of summer days with extreme heat and the extent of tree coverage. Drawing from a variety of data sources — including the Census Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the study crunched those numbers into an overall heat “underpreparedness” score.

Mesa and Phoenix ranked as the third- and fourth-most underprepared American cities, with an underpreparedness score of 97 out of 100. (It’s not clear if the two cities tied or if Mesa edged out Phoenix by a fraction of a point.) The two cities have the highest average summer temperature of any city in the study, at 93 degrees. Each also has tree canopy scores around 90%, meaning that only 10% of each city has enough shade from trees. However, both fared well on air conditioning, with Mesa at 99.1% adoption and Phoenix at 97.1%.

“Mesa ranks in the 99th percentile for heat vulnerability nationwide, driven by an aging population, high rates of chronic disease, and very little tree canopy,” the study said about the suburb of just more than 500,00 people. The study also noted that while “Phoenix has invested in cooling centers and public outreach,” the unrelenting heat means “bodies never get a chance to recover overnight.”

Tucson ranked ninth on the list, ahead of El Paso and after Fresno, California. It has a lower average summer temperature than its central Arizona counterparts — 85 degrees — but was dinged for its even worse tree coverage, with less than 4% of the city having enough shade.