Is San Francisco Prepared for Extreme Heat? This SF Supervisor Wants to Find Out

In March, San Francisco hit a record-breaking 90 degrees Fahrenheit — the highest temperature recorded in the month of March in the past 152 years, according to Mandelman’s office.

Rishee Jain, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, said that “just like wildfires have become a California annual occurrence, I think this is going to be an annual occurrence.”

Mandelman said that San Francisco residents are extra vulnerable given their lack of exposure to extreme heat. “San Francisco has less air conditioning than any major city in the country,” he added.

He also cited the city Department of Public Health, which estimates that “the risk of hospitalization and death here starts climbing at 85 degrees, an unremarkable temperature by California standards — because our bodies and our buildings are unprepared for that kind of heat.”

Noah Diffenbaugh, a professor and senior fellow at Stanford University, said that humans can adapt to a variety of climates, and what’s safe for some humans can be disastrous for others. “It’s really relative to what we’re accustomed to and what we’re prepared for,” he continued.

Even within San Francisco, the risk is not evenly distributed, Mandelman said.

“When heat arrives in San Francisco, it hits hardest in neighborhoods like SoMa, Bayview-Hunters Point and Chinatown — urban heat islands that run significantly hotter than surrounding areas and whose residents are the least likely to have access to cooling,” he explained.

At the end of the day, Diffenbaugh said, “resilience to severe heat really comes down to preparation.”

Jain said that in order to prepare for extreme heat, San Francisco may need to revisit its infrastructure. “Many of our buildings are designed to keep heat in because it’s notoriously cold here,” he said. He explained that because they’re designed to keep the heat in, buildings can stay hot inside even after the heat breaks outside.

He said another solution could involve making it easier to get cool air back into buildings. “Most people in San Francisco still get to use Karl as their primary source of cooling.”

“So a big part of this is also thinking about how we can harness that cooling power even on days that it does get hot,” Jain continued.

Diffenbaugh also offered solutions such as installing air conditioning, having warning systems, designating cooling centers for heat waves, and getting vulnerable people access to those centers when the heat waves come.

Mandelman’s office said that although the hearing isn’t officially scheduled yet, he’s aiming for July 23.

At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Mandelman said that the hearing will answer one question: “When an extreme heat event strikes again — because it is a question of when, and not if — is San Francisco in a better place to respond?”