Extreme Heat in Toronto
Extreme Heat Events in Toronto It is projected that the number of extreme heat events will continue to increase with climate change.1 This page demonstrates Toronto's hottest areas, and how Toronto's temperatures are projected to increase. This page also shows areas in Toronto with surfaces that are more likely to be hot. 2010 Toronto Heat Exposure [2] Illustrating the Growing Temperatures in Canada Climate Warming - National Summer Temperature Scenario: 2050 [3] As visible from the figure, average mean temperature is rising faster in Canada than the global average increase. With that increase will bring more extreme heat days and, without proper mitigation strategies, greater heat-related hospitalizations and deaths.3 As the population migrates towards urban regions there is a greater need for infrastructure in urban areas.4 The increase of residential and urban development is making the quantity of impermeable surfaces increase which drives up surface temperatures.5 As impermeable surfaces are replacing vegetation, the decrease in vegetation in these urban regions is further impelling temperatures.5 Research has shown that dark surfaces, such as asphalt are 30-50 degrees Celsius higher than their surrounding air temperature, making the relationship between impermeable surfaces and heat more notable.5 Street trees are a valuable heat mitigation tool that can help shape the temperature of your local block. 6 If your neighborhood's tree density is less than the city average, you have the power to increase tree density in your local vicinity, while also adding heat relief infrastructure, by submitting a tree request for a tree via phone (by calling 311), or visiting the city’s website. References: 1. The City of Toronto. (2022). Extreme Weather. The City of Toronto. 2. Toronto Health. (2011). Protecting Vulnerable People from Health Impacts of Extreme Heat.3. Government of Canada. (2022, February 22). Climate Warming - National Summer Temperature Scenario: 2050.4. Hiemstra, J. A., Saaroni, H., & Amorim, J. H. (2017). The Urban Heat Island: Thermal Comfort and the Role of Urban Greening (pp. 7–19). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50280-9_25. Frumkin, H. (2002). Urban Sprawl and Public Health. Public Health Reports, 117(3), 201–217. https://doi.org/10.1093/phr/117.3.201 6. United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). (2008). Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies. Data Sources: 1. Toronto Open Data. (2022). Toronto Forest and LandCover: Buildings. Toronto Open Data. 2. Toronto Open Data. (2022). Impermeable Surface. Toronto Open Data . 3. Toronto Open Data. (2022). Physical Location of Trees. Toronto Open Data.
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Additional Info
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| Last Updated | March 24, 2026, 22:47 (UTC) |
| Created | March 24, 2026, 22:47 (UTC) |
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Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
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Title
Title for the Dataset.
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Extreme Heat in Toronto |
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Description
A description of the dataset.
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Extreme Heat Events in Toronto It is projected that the number of extreme heat events will continue to increase with climate change.1 This page demonstrates Toronto's hottest areas, and how Toronto's temperatures are projected to increase. This page also shows areas in Toronto with surfaces that are more likely to be hot. 2010 Toronto Heat Exposure [2] Illustrating the Growing Temperatures in Canada Climate Warming - National Summer Temperature Scenario: 2050 [3] As visible from the figure, average mean temperature is rising faster in Canada than the global average increase. With that increase will bring more extreme heat days and, without proper mitigation strategies, greater heat-related hospitalizations and deaths.3 As the population migrates towards urban regions there is a greater need for infrastructure in urban areas.4 The increase of residential and urban development is making the quantity of impermeable surfaces increase which drives up surface temperatures.5 As impermeable surfaces are replacing vegetation, the decrease in vegetation in these urban regions is further impelling temperatures.5 Research has shown that dark surfaces, such as asphalt are 30-50 degrees Celsius higher than their surrounding air temperature, making the relationship between impermeable surfaces and heat more notable.5 Street trees are a valuable heat mitigation tool that can help shape the temperature of your local block. 6 If your neighborhood's tree density is less than the city average, you have the power to increase tree density in your local vicinity, while also adding heat relief infrastructure, by submitting a tree request for a tree via phone (by calling 311), or visiting the city’s website. References: 1. The City of Toronto. (2022). Extreme Weather. The City of Toronto. 2. Toronto Health. (2011). Protecting Vulnerable People from Health Impacts of Extreme Heat.3. Government of Canada. (2022, February 22). Climate Warming - National Summer Temperature Scenario: 2050.4. Hiemstra, J. A., Saaroni, H., & Amorim, J. H. (2017). The Urban Heat Island: Thermal Comfort and the Role of Urban Greening (pp. 7–19). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50280-9_25. Frumkin, H. (2002). Urban Sprawl and Public Health. Public Health Reports, 117(3), 201–217. https://doi.org/10.1093/phr/117.3.201 6. United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). (2008). Reducing Urban Heat Islands: Compendium of Strategies. Data Sources: 1. Toronto Open Data. (2022). Toronto Forest and LandCover: Buildings. Toronto Open Data. 2. Toronto Open Data. (2022). Impermeable Surface. Toronto Open Data . 3. Toronto Open Data. (2022). Physical Location of Trees. Toronto Open Data. |
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Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
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5252.24 |
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Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
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Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
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2022-02-21 |
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Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
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Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
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public |
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License
License used to access the dataset.
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License not specified |
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Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
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Location
Location of the dataset.
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https://clever-cartophers-toronto-heat-response-utoronto.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/4881904a11ec4fb0a36bd69cad57d346 |
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Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
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nortonam_utoronto |
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Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
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Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
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Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
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Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
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Author
Author of the dataset.
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nortonam_utoronto |
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Author Email
Email of the author.
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Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
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2022-02-25 |
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Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
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4881904a11ec4fb0a36bd69cad57d346 |
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Language
Language(s) of the dataset
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English |
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Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
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https://clever-cartophers-toronto-heat-response-utoronto.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/4881904a11ec4fb0a36bd69cad57d346 |
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Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
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Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
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Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
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Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
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Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
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Version
Version of the datatset
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None |
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Source
Source of the dataset.
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None |
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Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
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Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
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Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
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Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
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Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
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Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
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Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
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Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
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Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
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Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
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Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
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Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
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Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.
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