Summers are sizzling, meaning steamy playgrounds and other dangers for kids

As summer gets underway, climate scientists have a warning: The season could be a scorcher, and children could be particularly at risk to the dangers that presents.

Summer has become hotter in most U.S. counties since 1970 — as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit in some instances, according to analysis done by the nonprofit Climate Central.

It’s an especially troubling trend for parents, since summers are when kids are running around outside with their friends. Heat waves are happening more often and lasting longer, and as temperatures rise even playgrounds can be dangerous places.

“It’s just such a stark reminder of how much we are changing the planet,” said Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at Climate Central.

Summer temperatures on average have increased 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit across the country. Some midwestern counties have had minor cooling due to natural climate variability, and because of factors such as more water in the atmosphere from irrigation systems, Dahl said. But data shows the country overall is trending hotter.

Across the country, cities that saw an increase in summer temperatures typically also saw an increase in the number of what Climate Central defined as hotter-than-normal days. The national average change was 19.5 additional very hot days per summer — just under three weeks.

A small number of cities did show a drop, including Los Angeles, which had three fewer hotter-than-normal days. Los Angeles is a place that experiences a lot of year-to-year variability, Dahl said. Some of it is related to drought, some to the El Niño weather pattern, the warming of ocean surface temperatures.

Cities studied in New York and New Jersey have seen an increase in summer temperatures since 1970, as well as more hotter-than-normal days. Albany topped the list, with more than three weeks of additional very hot days per summer.

Why climate change puts kids at risk

Most places across the country are watching temperatures rise, and with those additional sizzling temperatures have come new dangers for the most vulnerable people, children up to 17 years old among them. 

Nearly 12% of emergency department visits by children across the U.S. between May and September are already a result of excessive heat, according to research published in 2022.

Extreme heat affects children in many ways. Infants and young children sweat less and are unable to regulate their core body temperature as well as adults. Their immune systems are still developing and they are less capable of fighting off symptoms of heat stress, according to the Children’s Environment Health Collaborative, co-founded by UNICEF, the UN Environment Programme and the World Bank. 

“Each age group is vulnerable for different reasons,” said Dr. Lisa Patel of Stanford Children’s Health.

Babies can’t adapt to extreme heat on their own, whether removing a blanket or moving to a cooler place. Toddlers are tragically left in hot cars. Older children spend more time outdoors, where more often they are getting burned on playgrounds, she said.

“Unfortunately, our playgrounds were built for a different era, and so these artificial turfs and black asphalt really hold on to that heat and can be problematic,” she said.

A 2024 paper from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University notes that excessive heat threatens a child’s development through too little learning, too little sleep and assaults their mental and behaviorial health at a time when the effects can be long lasting. 

“While the dangers of excessive heat to certain populations, such as the elderly, are well-known, its effects on pregnancy, infancy, and childhood receive less attention,” its authors write. “Extreme heat affects infants and young children more than most adults — and potential impacts on their health and development can be lifelong.”

The effects of extreme heat on teens can also be severe.

Older children may not associate those symptoms with heat — including headaches, nausea, cramps or lethargy — and may find it more difficult to concentrate in school. Their sleep might be disrupted and their moods affected. They might be at higher risk because they work outdoors.

When it is especially hot, doctors see more adolescents in emergency rooms with mental health crises, or as the victims of violence.

“And then you add in our American context where we have more guns than we have people in this country and it is unfortunately a tinderbox in terms of how we treat each other and the types of unfortunate incidents that that can happen,” Patel said.

Already about 9,000 high school athletes are treated for heat-related illnesses each year in the U.S, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. By 2050, virtually every child on Earth, more than 2 billion, is expected to experience more heatwaves, the Children’s Environment Health Collaborative reports.

“You think about what childhood in the summer looks like, and that has changed so significantly,” Dahl said.

More families are made up of two working parents, so fewer parents are at home in the summer to supervise children, and they are already spending more time indoors, she noted.

“Some of those changes may be for the better, but some of them may be for the worse, and the idea of more children being more restricted in terms of what they can do and how they can play in the summer is, I think, a conversation that we’re going to increasingly be confronting.”

Patel noted how many different places are being affected, in the United States and elsewhere.

“I think we still consider climate change to be a distant problem and not something that necessarily we’re being affected by,” she said “And so I think it should be clear to all of us that all the places that we love and that we’re used to are changing in ways that we are very poorly adapted to.”

How to protect kids from extreme heat

As temperatures continue to rise, parents and others can be prepared for extreme heat that could endanger children. Here are some tips from Climate Central.

• Check temperature and heat forecasts, and avoid outdoor activities during the hottest part of the day.
• Check that playground equipment and surfaces are not too hot.
• Know the symptoms of heat-related illnesses and when children need medical help.
• Make sure kids drink enough water while they are playing outdoors or participating in organized sports. Coaches should have a plan for emergencies.
• Never leave a child in a car, even for a short time. and check the back seat when getting out.
• Spend time in air conditioning, whether at home or in school if it’s available, and talk to your school officials about how they are planning for extreme heat.

Finally, Patel urges everyone to talk to decision makers and ask them what their plans are to address climate change.

“We can only adapt up to a point and then past that point, our bodies cannot adapt,” she said. “So if we do not take actions to mitigate climate change by transitioning to cleaner forms of energy, we will have a scorched world with fewer places for us to live and the places that we loved burned beyond recognition.”