As part of a Code Switch broadcast about climate change, fellow Molly Peterson reports from the most sweltering part of Los Angeles.
City heat is a growing public health threat. It kills 60 to 70 Angelenos every summer. Even though heat causes more deaths and medical problems than most other natural disasters, it’s rarely identified as the culprit.
Some Southern California students spend their days in air conditioning, but others are not so lucky even as temperatures reach over 100 degrees. And those hot classrooms can impact kids' ability to learn.
![[Photo via Flickr.]](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_list_thumbnail/public/title_images/photo_160.jpg?itok=Cz4AUsXg)
If heat is the enemy, Marcela Herrera thought she was ready for battle last summer at her family’s north Los Angeles apartment.
![[Photo: Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images]](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_list_thumbnail/public/title_images/unnamed_50.jpg?itok=e3ZI75OC "[Photo: Frederic J. Brown/Getty Images]")
Record temperatures aren’t just threatening cracks in distant polar ice — they’re raising questions about how well California’s most vulnerable city dwellers are coping with urban heat impacts.
