What, Where, and Why?
What are Urban Heat Islands?
An urban heat island is an urban area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. Surfaces like asphalt and concrete absorb and retain more heat than natural landscapes.
Why Does It Matter?
Extreme heat poses health risks, increases energy consumption for cooling, and affects overall quality of life. Understanding these hotspots helps us create a more resilient and comfortable city.
Where is it hottest in Olomouc?
The interactive map visualizes the heat load across the city. Choose a metric below to see how different locations perform during the day and at night. Click on a selected area for detailed information.
How do we perceive temperature in the city?
We measure temperature at different heights to better understand the conditions at the level of an adult, a child, or a pet on a hot sidewalk.
Adult (200 cm)
The air temperature we normally perceive.
Child (80 cm)
Closer to the ground, the temperature is often higher, which is important for children's comfort.
Pet (0 cm)
The surface temperature can be extreme and dangerous for animal paws.
Nighttime Hotspots: Why some areas don't cool down
Where is it hard to sleep?
Why is it harder to sleep in some places than others? The key is how quickly a location can cool down after a hot day. This chart compares the total number of hours when the temperature at night did not drop below 20°C. Places with high values, typically with large amounts of concrete and asphalt, accumulate heat and radiate it long into the night. This worsens sleep quality and the body's ability to regenerate.
Curious about tropical nights?
While heat islands show us where the city gets hottest, our second dashboard focuses on specific tropical phenomena. Discover how many tropical days and nights individual locations experience and how these trends change from week to week.
Explore Tropical PhenomenaBeyond Temperature: The Heat Index
The heat index, or 'feels like' temperature, combines air temperature with relative humidity to provide a more accurate measure of how hot it feels. High humidity prevents sweat from evaporating, making us feel much hotter.
Heat Index Scale and Health Impacts
Extreme Moments by Location
A detailed look at the hottest day and night for each specific area. Click on a location to see the temperature distribution and feels-like temperature statistics.
Daily 'Feels-Like' Cycle for a Specific Day
How does the 'feels-like' temperature change throughout the day in different locations? This chart shows the hourly values for a selected day. The default view shows the day and location with the highest recorded heat index of the season.
What can we do about it?
Data not only show us the problem but also suggest solutions. Targeted planting of greenery, building water features, and using light-colored surfaces can significantly reduce the temperature in the city.
More Trees and Parks
Trees provide shade and cool the surroundings through water evaporation.
Water Features
Fountains and ponds humidify and cool the air around them.
Light-colored Surfaces
Light-colored roofs and sidewalks reflect more sunlight and heat up less.
Open Data for You
We believe in the power of community and open data. Download detailed hourly data or the raw seasonal summary from our sensors and create your own analyses, visualizations, or applications.