Cities have the power to worsen extreme weather events
4 years, 3 months ago

Cities have the power to worsen extreme weather events

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Urban landscapes not only make wind gusts stronger and hail larger; they can also start storms sooner and even pull them in towards cities, according to scientists exploring the impact of human beings on hazardous weather. By modelling two thunderstorms – one near Houston, Texas, and another in Kansas City, Missouri – scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found the remarkable impact of both urban development and human-caused aerosols. Urban land and aerosols influence the weather in different ways, according to Ms Fan, depending on other environmental conditions, such as whether air is already polluted. But if you’re already in clean a condition and you add aerosols, it may produce a large impact.” Ms Fan hopes her work may lead to more accurate predictions of hazardous weather, mitigating the deaths and damage dealt by storms.

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History of this topic

Why cities are so rainy
6 months, 1 week ago

Why cities are so rainy

NPR  

Why cities are so rainy AYESHA RASCOE, HOST: If you think it rains a lot in your city, it's not your imagination. CHICAGO: Another rainy day in New York City - softly sweet, so silently it falls, as cross town traffic crawls. So it's a complex interaction between the dynamics, the kind of building you have, whether they're tall buildings, …

Extreme Heat Is a Disease for Cities. Treat It That Way
2 years, 10 months ago

Extreme Heat Is a Disease for Cities. Treat It That Way

Wired  

For millennia, cities have thrived by attracting people with diverse backgrounds and talents. “I often talk about heat as the silent killer, and I say that because it doesn't get the headlines that tornadoes, flooding, and blizzards get,” says Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, the forecasting service. “We think heat-illness deaths are woefully undercounted because people oftentimes have other …

Climate Change Drives Bigger, Wetter Storms — Storms Like Florence
6 years, 6 months ago

Climate Change Drives Bigger, Wetter Storms — Storms Like Florence

NPR  

Climate Change Drives Bigger, Wetter Storms — Storms Like Florence Enlarge this image toggle caption NOAA/GOES/Getty Images NOAA/GOES/Getty Images Hurricane Florence is moving relentlessly toward the Southeastern U.S. "We're seeing that in every ocean basin except the northern Indian Ocean," says Kossin, possibly because climate change is causing the wind currents that hurricanes ride to slow down. Kevin Trenberth of …

Warming to make thunderstorms larger and more frequent
7 years, 4 months ago

Warming to make thunderstorms larger and more frequent

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Summer thunderstorms in North America will likely be larger, wetter and more frequent in a warmer world, dumping 80 percent more rain in some areas and worsening flooding, a new study says. Prein and colleagues used high-resolution computer simulations to see how global warming will likely change the large thunderstorms that are already daily summer events in North …

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