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Urban effects on precipitation amount

Departments of Ecology and Geography, Emeritus University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 6180, USA

Major reviews of urban effects on local climate, extending from Kratzer in 1937 through to Landsberg in 1981, have dealt primarily with radiation, temperature, wind, and air quality. To a much lesser extent they have examined moisture-related elements including humidity, cloud, precipitation, and storminess. Selecting air temperature to represent the former group and precipitation amount to represent the latter, the author asserts that, because of the intrinsic physical differences between them, there are necessarily important differences in the methods to be used for their proper observation, analysis, presentation, and interpretation pertaining to urban effects. The principal differences are based in the fact that temperature is continuous in both time and space, whereas precipitation is continuous in neither. The author maintains that because of these differences, urban climatologists have had much greater success in specifying and explaining urban effects on temperature than on precipitation amount. Further, he makes the case that, lack of recognition that methods used for the study of urban effects on temperature are too often inappropriate for study of urban effects on precipitation amount, has led to a state of affairs where there remains basic uncertainty about the specification of urban effects on precipitation amount, and even greater uncertainty about their explanation. In making that case, the author includes 1) an historical perspective, 2) a critical evaluation of methods, 3) an overview of the status of urban precipitation climatology, and 4) recommendations concerning future research.

Key Words: experimental design • methods in urban rainfall climatology • precipitation • urban climate • urban effects on climate

Progress in Physical Geography, Vol. 22, No. 4, 477-520 (1998)
DOI: 10.1177/030913339802200403


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