Local impacts to weather during a heat wave in New York City

What is it about?

We use a combination of weather simulations and statistical methods to split the contribution to near surface temperature and winds from both urban surfaces and large scale processes. We found that local factors (e.g., land surface, anthropogenic heat) can contribute to temperatures to nearly the same magnitude as synoptic heat wave conditions due to synergies between the two.

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Why is it important?

Heat waves are expected to increase in intensity, frequency, and duration. As these extreme events impact a wide swath of human activity, from health to energy infrastructure, it will be increasingly to understand how our cities, where a large concentration of our population and infrastructure reside, may interact with with these events. Added insight into these physical processes will allow us to better manage our energy resources and hopefully prevent heat-related deaths and hospitalizations.