D.C. entered a scorching heat wave last week, with temperatures hitting 100 degrees for the first time in almost eight years. Thermometers are again expected to hit the high 90s as climate change fuels rising temperatures across the country.
In Kingman Park, the heat was especially acute. That’s because this Northeast Washington neighborhood is a “heat island,” an urbanized area with less tree coverage and green space that experiences higher temperatures than surrounding locations. When neighborhoods have more impervious surfaces such as buildings, sidewalks, vehicles and roadways, they absorb heat rather than reflect it. On some heat islands, temperatures can be up to 10 degrees higher than other areas with more tree coverage. Other such neighborhoods in D.C. include Brightwood and Brightwood Park, Columbia Heights and Near Northeast.
Kingman Park, made up of about 17,000 residents, is especially at risk of illness from heat exposure because of socio-economic factors such as income, age and health ailments, according to a study from the D.C. Department of Energy and Environment.
One out of five residents is either a child or someone older than 65, according to census and D.C. health data. At least 10 percent of residents have asthma, and about a quarter are living with obesity.
On Friday, The Washington Post spent a day in Kingman Park to capture how residents were coping.
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Morning in the garden
Around 8:45 a.m., Tom Dautel biked to the Kingman Park-Rosedale Community Garden to water his plants there.
Although he lives near Lincoln Park, the 48-year-old economist travels about a half-mile to care for his plot of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
“On a hot day, we have to water them every day. But if it’s a little cooler, if it’s in the 80s, we can go a couple days,” Dautel said.
He didn’t know Kingman Park was a heat island but said he noticed there are fewer trees upon entering the neighborhood on his ride up North Carolina Avenue and C Street.
“Lincoln Park just seems like it has more tree cover overall,” Dautel said, “So, yeah, it doesn’t surprise me that this area is a heat island.”
Cooling off at home
As temperatures rose throughout the day, the Smith and Rivera-Lopez family blasted their air conditioning.
On a hot day like Friday, 28-year-old Marilyn Rivera-Lopez said she, her fiancé and five daughters try to go to the public pool, a water park or an aquarium, where they will be indoors and out of the sun.
Rivera-Lopez prepared for the incoming heat wave by purchasing an inflatable kiddie pool with a slide for her daughters to play in, but the delivery was expected Saturday.
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The pool arrived a day early, to their surprise. Rivera-Lopez and her fiancé, Tommy Smith, quickly blew up the pool so their oldest daughters, Nyla, 7, and Ariyah, 5, could cool off in the 93-degree heat.
“I’m ecstatic for them. … We brought the water park to them,” Rivera-Lopez said.
Not everyone had a day in the water like the Smith and Rivera-Lopez family, but people still looked for something to quench their thirst.
A sweet treat
Around midday on 17th Street and Gales Place, people lined up outside of a white pickup truck — not for ice cream, not for milkshakes, but for watermelons.
David Howard, an 84-year-old retiree, drives from the District to Jessup, Md., and back to get jumbo watermelons that he later sells from the back of his truck for $20. The D.C. resident has sold watermelons to the community on the same block for the past 25 years with the help of his son and his friends.
“I’m an old man now, so I do this to keep myself active,” Howard said.
The North Carolina native said he is used to the heat. He kept himself cool as the temperature rose to 95 degrees by sitting in a foldable chair in the tree shade by his truck.
Sweating through it all
As the sun started to set, residents filled the Rosedale Recreation Center, one of 134 designated cooling centers intended to help residents get out of the heat.
Despite a slight breeze, temperatures remained in the 90s. Parents relaxed in the shade as children played on the basketball court and football field.
On the Mamie “Peanut” Johnson Field, the 8U Rosedale Tigers football team practiced in the sweltering heat and ran drills. Demitri Wallace, the head coach, said despite the high temperatures, it is a vibrant time for children to kick off summer. The children are well-hydrated with ice water and ice cream, Wallace said, but he wishes there were more resources to help youths stay cool, like sprinklers.
“Especially playing football, we need it,” said Wallace, 36. “Playing any sport in the heat. We definitely need some type of cooling station or something for them.”
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About this story
Editing by Tara McCarty and Kanyakrit Vongkiatkajorn. Design and development by Carson TerBush. Design editing by Christian Font. Video producing by Jessica Koscielniak. Photo editing by Mark Miller. Data editing by Anu Narayanswamy. Graphics editing by Chiqui Esteban and Tim Meko. Copy editing by Whitney Juckno.
