Urban Heat Island in Massachusetts

Massachusetts has a total population over 6 million. The commonwealth is considered to be on the top half of populated states in the country. It's largest cities are Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. All three cities have low elevation and easy accessibility to water bodies. The three largest cities have easy accessibility to major highways (Boston I-93, I-90) (Worcester I-190, I-290) (Springfield 1-91, I-291). 

​

With all of these attributes. some cities and towns have higher populations that are close to the highway while there are towns and cities have lower populations because of more challenging accessibility to the highways, water bodies, and lower elevation. 

​

Eastern Massachusetts has more population compared to Central and Western Massachusetts. This also means surface temperatures are more likely to be hotter because of more impervious surfaces. It should be noted that cities within I-93 and Route 128 have the highest land surface temperatures compared to towns that are outside these major highways.