I’ve never been so glad for the shelter of trees on my midday walk as I have in the past couple of months.
As the country sweltered in the hottest June on record, I instinctively made a beeline for those streets in my area that are lined by oak trees and luxuriated in their cooling effect in a way that I haven’t before.
And research confirms that the profound effect of these canopies wasn’t just psychological. Tree cover reduces the temperature of the air below by up to 8°C, according to the Forestry Commission’s research arm.
Much of this temperature relief is simply because the foliage blocks out the sun. But the evaporation of water through pores in the leaves also cools the air as the process absorbs heat from it – and this cooler air brings down the temperature of the surrounding area as well.
The effect is so strong that the provision of trees – or lack of it – is starting to have a significant impact on people’s quality of life in the summer months, as climate change pushes up temperatures up to new levels. Research shows that in an average city, those UK neighbourhoods where tree cover per person is highest are up to 4°C cooler during a heatwave than those where it is the lowest.
