The urban heat island effect is something that we see almost on a daily basis in metropolitan cities such as Atlanta, Dallas Texas, New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Charlotte North Carolina, Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville and any urban metro city. The cities holds more heat than the suburbs and rural areas. It can be noticed during the day, but more so has an impact on overnight temperatures. So what is the urban heat island effect? It is warmer temperatures found in the core of the city compared to surrounding areas. The temperatures are warmer because the buildings and the concrete give off heat. This raises the temperature of the air most noticeably at night. For example, on hot and humid summer nights, temperatures in the suburbs could drop into the 60s, but in the city, temperatures may only fall into the 70's or 80's. The temperature is higher because all the concrete and buildings give off the heat they acquired during the day. These warm nights combined with very high temperatures during the day can be quite dangerous. For those without air conditioning, it means there is no relief at night. For example Downtown and Midtown Atlanta might be 75 degrees and Carrollton or Douglasville west of Atlanta in the suburbs might drop into the Low and Middle 60's Often times temperatures can be between 10 to 15 degrees warmer in Atlanta than in the suburbs. Recently Carrollton and Douglasville was in the 50's for a low temperature right around 58 in the suburbs and then in Atlanta in the heart of the city it was about 10 degrees warmer at 68.
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