Nicosia: The Municipality of Nicosia, in collaboration with the CYENS Center of Excellence and the Cyprus Institute, presented the results of the CLIMAAX-NIC project, through which an innovative Artificial Intelligence tool was developed for mapping urban heat at the neighbourhood level.
According to Cyprus News Agency, the tool enables the Municipality to plan more targeted interventions for greenery, shading and improvement of public space, strengthening Nicosia's resilience to the effects of climate change.
The measurements were carried out during the summer of 2025, the two hottest months of the year (August-September), with specialised devices placed on the roof of vehicles of the Municipality of Nicosia. The study revealed that during the extreme heat wave of August 9-11, 2025, when temperatures exceeded 42 °C, the temperature difference between the city and the countryside almost disappeared.
It notes that the reason for that is that the countryside overheats equally, as the entire landscape becomes uniformly hot and that this has serious health consequences since early warning systems based only on temperature differences or urban thresholds may underestimate the true burden on vulnerable citizens. The highest heat stress does not always occur on the hottest days, the statement says, adding that it occurs on moderately hot days with apnea and multi-day heat accumulation. 'This changes the way we should design heatwave warnings,' it concludes.