This is from Charlotte’s NPR station (which apparently has enough money not from Los Federales to operate), which states
Climate News
Exploring how the way we live influences climate change and its impact across the Carolinas. You also can read additional national and international climate news.
It’s hot outside. It’s summer in NC
Charlotte’s hot streak continues, but how hot depends on where you live
Last week was hot. Very hot. Heat readings taken with an infrared sensor in NoDa clocked surface temperatures at 140 degrees Thursday afternoon. A heat dome settled over the Southeast, causing near-record-setting temperatures over the Fourth of July weekend.
But how you experienced those high temperatures depended on where you live. For example, the neighborhood NoDa is a known hotspot, and the sidewalk reached over 130 degrees on Thursday. Grassy areas fared much better. In Cordelia Park, the lawn measured 84 degrees, with shaded areas a few degrees cooler.
But the most insidious climate impact is when the sun goes down and overnight low temperatures stay high.
This is literally how UHI works, especially during a super el nino, which is being called “worse than anticipated.”
“I’d say those overnight lows have been the canary in the coal mine in terms of climate change in North Carolina,” said Corey Davis, North Carolina’s assistant state climatologist.
This is compounded by the urban heat island effect. Roads, roofs and other hardened surfaces store heat during the day and slowly radiate it at night, raising local temperatures. Wednesday night, surface temperatures on North Brevard Street, which runs parallel to the light rail, stayed warm well past sundown. The following morning, the road still measured 87.1 degrees.
That’s UHI during a typical Holocene warm period.
But whether you live near uptown Charlotte or next to Latta Nature Preserve, you’re still feeling the effects of climate change during this heatwave.
“We have seen one to two degrees of warming in our nighttime temperatures, so in some ways that’s irrespective of that land use change and development,” Davis said.
But, doomsday cultists gotta cult.
