Urban climate

Urban climate refers to climatic conditions in an urban area that differ from neighboring rural areas and are attributable to urban development. Urbanization tremendously changes the form of the landscape and also produces changes in an area's air.

Temperature

Main article: urban heat island

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Urban areas tend to be significantly warmer than their rural (and possibly suburban) surroundings, particularly at night. As population centers grow in size from village to town to city, they tend to have a corresponding increase in average temperature (which is more often welcome in winter months than in summer). The US EPA says: "On hot summer days, urban air can be 2-10°F hotter than the surrounding countryside." Not to be confused with global warming, scientists call this phenomenon the "urban heat island effect." http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ActionsLocalHeatIslandEffect.html

Related Topics:
Suburban - EPA - Global warming - Urban heat island

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