A Northwestern University study finds that a 1-degree Fahrenheit (0.56-degree Celsius) rise in outdoor temperature increases subway heat complaints by about 10 percent in Boston, 12 percent in New York and 27 percent in London.Researchers analyzed more than 85,000 crowdsourced posts on the social platform X and Google Maps from 2008 to 2024 across the Boston, New York and London systems and filtered keywords indicating thermal discomfort.Co-authors
Guido Chinazzo,
Giorgia Chinazzo and
Alessandro Rotta Loria and outside experts
Flavio Lehner and
Kris Ebi say the work shows cities should adopt mitigation such as fans, targeted cooling and water distribution to protect riders.