Six yellow cards for Saxony in the heat check

Saxony is mediocre in the "Heat Check" by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH). All six cities examined in the state received a yellow card in the analysis - making them averagely affected by summer heat.

In its heat check, the DUH investigated the extent to which people in their immediate living environment are exposed to extreme heat in summer. To do this, it had satellite data analyzed and compared land sealing and green areas in 190 cities in Germany with more than 50,000 inhabitants. According to DUH, a total of more than 12 million people in German cities are affected by extreme heat where they live.

Red card to 31 cities

The red card was awarded 31 times. The cities of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen and Worms came off worst. According to the ranking, people there are among the worst affected by heat - due to high temperatures, enormous sealing and too little cooling greenery. 131 cities received a yellow card, only 28 a green card. The three best ratings went to North Rhine-Westphalia with Hattingen, Gummersbach and Witten.

Plauen and Chemnitz ahead in Saxony

In Saxony, Plauen and Chemnitz came closest to the best category. They scored particularly well in terms of the degree of sealing with 39 and 39.9 percent respectively. Leipzig, on the other hand, only narrowly escaped a red card. More than half of the residents there are classified as being highly affected by heat.

Materials such as concrete, glass and metal store heat. This is why cities cool down more slowly at night. The stored heat rises in the evening and causes high temperatures at night. In heavily built-up cities, the air cannot circulate well either: Cooling winds are therefore unable to ventilate the streets sufficiently.