Hotter Islands

While browsing the BLDGBLOG, I ran into their article about climate change, and more specifically, the "urban heat island effect."

The result of man-made materials tendency to absorb and retain heat, urban heat islands not only cause the local cityscape to remain warmer than the surrounding countryside, but these islands also effect the local weather by causing strong thermal updrafts that, according to New Scientist, generate rain-bearing clouds and thunderstorms.

Tucson, like any city extended by metastatic growth, also experiences the heat island effect. This is what it looks like:



Up towards Oro Valley the air is up to 7 degrees (C) cooler than the University of Arizona near the center of the map. This works out to a difference of 13 degrees (F) if the weather widget is trustworthy.

Also, of note, according to the New Scientist article BLDGBLOG refers to, the heat island effect causes thunderstorms up to 60km downwind. In other words, while Tucson gets hotter because of all the asphalt, concrete, and heat-bleed from air-conditioning, someone in Benson might be getting the rain.

This effect can be easily felt in Tucson by driving down Broadway, as you pass Reid Park, the ambient air temperature rapidly drops.