Sarah Mankowitz
•7/20/2026
Artificial turf can reach extremely high temperatures, far exceeding natural grass and even metal playground equipment, according to recent measurements.
Ivan Holguin and his daughter Audrey often visit parks in Fort Myers, where they enjoy spending time outdoors. Now, Holguin has noticed artificial turf at many parks and water parks they visit.
"There's a park that has turf on the park side and then a water park that has entertainment for the kids. But once you step onto the park, you don't have shoes on because you're obviously in the water and the turf is just extremely hot, like your feet will burn," Holguin said.
So just how hot does artificial turf get? A temperature reading showed it reached 138 degrees. In comparison, regular grass measured 96 degrees, and a concrete slab in the park was 100 degrees.
Darker artificial turf at the playground was even hotter, reading 145 degrees.
Metal playground equipment measured 115 degrees, still cooler than the turf.
Artificial turf bakes in the Florida sun, but turf in shaded areas cooled significantly, reading 100 degrees.
These measurements were taken in the morning before the sun reached its peak. By the afternoon, the turf temperatures climbed even higher, surpassing grass and road temperatures.
To understand why artificial turf heats up so much, Florida Gulf Coast University associate professor Puspa Adhikari explained the science behind it.
"The plastic can heat up quickly," Adhikari said.
Adhikari added that artificial turf lacks a natural cooling feature found in grass.
"They can create really what we call a heat island that gets really hot compared to natural lawn or the grasses because natural grasses can do something called evapotranspiration to cool themselves over time," Adhikari said.
