A recent study out of Texas A&M found that cities have a role in shaping weather patterns.
The findings, published in the science journal Nature earlier this year, show thunderstorms are more likely to develop and strengthen over large urban cities like Dallas and Houston, while cold fronts potentially weaken as they move across urban areas.
鈥淐ities appear to have an impact on rainfall systems and that impact depends on the type of system,鈥� said state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, a co-author of the study.
The key way cities affect weather is through temperature, Nielsen-Gammon said. Urban areas tend to hold on to heat longer because of the density of pavement and large buildings, known as the 鈥渉eat island鈥� effect.
鈥淭hat presumably accounts for how it is that we saw more thunderstorms developing over cities than over the surrounding countryside,鈥� Nielsen-Gammon said. 鈥淸The air is] just a little bit more unstable over the cities.鈥�
Researchers used radar data of more than 40,000 storms recorded between 1995 and 2017 to put together a three-dimensional picture of the atmosphere around Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.
鈥淎ll four cities exhibit a higher frequency of isolated storms compared with their rural counterparts, with 7鈥�16% increases in three inland cities,鈥� read the study.
In the Dallas area specifically, Nielsen-Gammon said researchers found that heat trapped in paved areas tends to amplify the heat island effect.
鈥淵ou've got these places where there's lots of evaporation in the rural areas with the reservoirs and the farms and so forth compared to the urban areas, where things tend to be a bit drier,鈥� Nielsen-Gammon said.
He added that continued population growth in major cities like Dallas and Houston only amplify the intensity of certain storms.
鈥淲e're able to actually see that different types of storms are actually affected differently,鈥� Nielsen-Gammon said. 鈥淭hat explains some of the different results that have appeared in previous studies.鈥�
Results from the study can help improve weather forecasting, flood mitigation and emergency preparedness in major cities.
Pablo Arauz Pe帽a is 四虎影院鈥檚 growth and infrastructure reporter. Got a tip? Email Pablo at parauzpena@kera.org.
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