Summer thunderstorms become much more fierce when they collide with a city than they would otherwise be in the open countryside, according to research led by Alexandros A. Ntelekos and James A. Smith based their conclusion on computer models and detailed observations of an extreme thunderstorm that hit Baltimore in July of 2004.
Their modeling suggests that the city of Baltimore experienced about 30 percent more rainfall than the region it occupies would have experienced had there been no buildings where the city now sits.
Observational data shows that, during the 2004 storm, parts of Baltimore experienced as many lightning strikes in the space of two hours as they normally receive during the course of a year.
Exactly how does the urban environment alter the evolution of thunderstorms” The researchers described three mechanisms: Urban heat islands, Urban canopies, Urban aerosols.
As usual, I suggest reading through the whole article. The modeling is based on a “first”. Still, the results suggest that future applications of this work will lead to constructive and useful understanding.
HAH! See?
Cities pretty much piss me off too!
Strangely enough, in west TX, T-storm lines often seem to divide and miss Midland / Odessa, then reform the line after passing over. Go figure. I’ve seen the same phenomenon in Dallas.
Interesting. I’ve seen similar research that has pondered whether the warm air bubble over cities protects them from tornadoes…
Although three years old, this short NASA article is a good read (and some great pix)
http://tinyurl.com/yod29l
It should be heat related..
Just another reason to live in the suburbs…
Extra lightning strikes??? Ya, so what?? Most cities have taller structures with metal in them that would help attract lightening.
I’ve also seen it where we have been deluged with over an inch of rain where some friends 2 miles away got only a sprinkle.
I remember about 20 years ago watching rain squall form off of Lake Ontario, roll inland, and die. This happened repeatedly. They all seem to hit within the same mile or two on the shore. I was about five miles away sitting in the sunshine.
Yup. That weather can be funny sometimes.
Once again if mankind was not here this would be a better place. I only see one solution.
Here in Tampa, a house was struck by lightning less than a week ago less than a quarter of a mile from my house. It caught on fire and was gutted in less than half an hour. To make matters worse, the fire hydrant right next door to the burning house was unusable because of corrosion.
Phoenix is a heat Island city. Also suffering from the aerosol effect as well. The storms here come up from Mexico and make a large loop around the populated areas from the s. west, heading north, then when they reach the n. east side of Phoenix the rush into the city from the n. east and east. Rainfall between 2 and 3 inches an hour is not unusual, along with winds of 20 to 60 mph.. Sometimes preceeding these T. storms there will be a Haboob, it’s very impressive.
I’m not so sure these storms are any worse because of global warming as much as just a general increase in population (thus ^ in pollution and heat island effect and in the east, city bunching) in areas that were already prone to t. storms.