How did this slip in to the article?
An analysis of weather records at Georgia Tech reveals that the average number of heat-wave days in large U.S. cities each year had increased from nine in the mid-1950s to 19 by the mid-2000s. The news is even worse for the country’s most sprawling cities, such as Atlanta, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; and Raleigh, North Carolina: The number of heat-wave days in these cities has nearly tripled during the same time.
There are two reasons for the increase in urban areas. First, temperatures in cities are rising because of the global greenhouse effect, which is intensifying as the vehicles we drive and the energy we consume emit more and more greenhouse gases.
Second, and more important, cities are warming because of the loss of trees and other natural land cover to make way for buildings, streets, and parking lots, which are composed of materials that absorb far more thermal radiation than the natural landscape.
They still try and push the AGW notion, but, really, one of the biggest causes is, in fact, the urban island affect.
