Rainy night in Georgia, at least in Atlanta

摘要

Snow-globe souvenirs depict cities more accurately than most tourists recognize. A large city creates its own weather. Each sits under a dome of hot air, known as an urban heat island, that can produce clouds and thunderstorms. Using high-resolution measurements taken in Atlanta during the 1996 Summer Olympics and satellite data covering the past quarter century, researchers have produced one of the most detailed portraits of a city's climatic geography. The research, presented March 24 at the Association of American Geographers conference in Honolulu, along with work on other cities, is fueling a growing area of meteorology—weather prediction for urban microenvironments.