'Heat islands' pose challenges for residents trying to stay cool in King County

KENT, Wash. - Residents in some areas of King County are feeling this week's extreme heat a little more intensely than others, particularly those who live and work in the county's heat islands, which are places with a lot of pavement and little to no trees. 

"There’s no trees covering us. There’s nothing," said Kat, an employee at a Pink Devil Espresso, a bikini barista stand in Kent. "It gets really hot in here." 

Despite getting to wear a bathing suit at work, which Kat joked is helpful, she still gets very hot in the stand because the window AC unit can only do so much during extreme heat. 

"The sun will literally beam right where I’m at like 24/7," said Kat. "We have all these windows in here, so it does get really hot in here." 

Next door to the coffee stand, Laura Pegueros feels that the rules at her apartment complex are too restrictive given the oppressive heat.   

"A lot of places aren’t allowed to have air units if they are visible. A lot of people are suffering right now, really suffering," said Pegueros.

She's also worried about her houseless neighbors.  

"I’m scared for the homeless too right now. It’s hot," said Pegueros.

Both the coffee stand and the apartment complex sit in an area that King County calls a "heat island", or areas with dark surfaces like roads, a lack of vegetation and a high population density. 

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The hot spot near that encompasses the coffee stand runs from Kent down through Auburn. Kat says the difference is noticeable based on her experiences at different Bikini Barista locations that she's worked at in the past.  

"It’s a lot cooler in the Lakewood, Tacoma area. We usually don’t have stands that are out in the open like this," said Kat about the Kent location. 

As part of King County's heat mapping project in 2021, data analysis showed that more urbanized areas were as much as 20 degrees hotter than less urbanized areas  Last year, King County was considering long-term plans to help residents get AC units into older homes and adding shade to hot spots.  

"The types of changes that could be made to adapt our environment to handle heat could take decades," said Lara Whitely Binder, the Climate Preparedness Program Manager for King County in 2022.  

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Whitely Binder and Kat say adding more trees would be a good start.  

"More trees. Stop cutting down the trees, please. That would work for us," said Kat.  

Studies show that in the Seattle area, 54% of people live in areas that could be considered a heat island, where the temperatures are at least eight degrees warmer than the surrounding areas.