Parks and the urban heat island: A longitudinal study in Westfield, Massachusetts

UHI paper

ABSTRACT

This study compares and contrasts the urban climate of Westfield, Massachusetts be-tween 1993 and 2009. Undertaken by undergraduate students in a statistics class, the data collection procedure is quick and inexpensive. Given that weather conditions were dissimilar between the two sample years, a methodology is proposed to standardize the presence or absence of an Urban Heat Island between the two time periods. Once the UHI is identified, future land use planning and management can be based on the impacts of the environment and the urban microclimate. The re-search found that increased urbanization tied to a modest population growth, even in smaller cities, led to a larger area impacted by the urban heat island. Keywords: urban heat islands, longitudinal study, civic engagement. 

(10) (PDF) The Change in the Urban Heat Island for Westfield Massachusetts. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312188970_The_Change_in_the_Urban_Heat_Island_for_Westfield_Massachusetts [accessed Feb 25 2024].

Urban Heat Islands and Parks

 

Another PowerPoint from the old days.

“Urban Heat Islands: A longitudinal GIS Study.” New England St. Lawrence Valley Geographical Society. Storrs, CT. October 2010.

Show Your Stripes

 Since I am waiting for my boots to be repaired (at least in NH in 1974), I thought I would share this link I heard about earlier this week from my colleague Dr. Carsten Braun during his zoom talk on climate change.

https://showyourstripes.info/

check it out.

Here is the record for St. Lucia.

Hot this weekend

At least for us in New England.  So I inclined to suggest you drink plenty of non-alcoholic beverages (I am partial to seltzer), keep out of the sun (and if you need to be outside, try to do it in the morning) and keep an eye out for those outside (workers, neighbors, pets).  See someone outside. Offer some ice water.

In the meantime, my colleague sent me the heat index chart so we can all brag about how hot it got the first weekend in July 2018!

For the temps in the US, try this link to get the highs for the day.  Surface temperatures are always found at my favorite site, the DataStreme Project of the American Meteorology Society.

Finally, here is the message from this free educational service:

AMS Education and the President's Budget Blueprint -- It is through NOAA funding that AMS Education is able to provide the DataStreme program and Project ATMOSPHERE. We are monitoring the process associated with the President's 2018 budget request to Congress and the proposed budget cuts to NOAA, especially in the area of external grants and education. The exact wording related to NOAA, "Zeroes out over $250 million in targeted National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grants and programs supporting coastal and marine management, research, and education including Sea Grant, which primarily benefit industry and State and local stakeholders. These programs are a lower priority than core functions maintained in the Budget such as surveys, charting, and fisheries management."

The document proposes similar funding cuts to NASA, and would impact science education activities for that agency, too. If you are inclined to do so, we certainly support you engaging with your local congressional representatives to share your thoughts on the matter.

Where's the snow?

It was a cold weekend in Westfield, but in a few days, warmer temperatures are predicted.   That said, short term memories mean that we may remember that last winter was mild and the one before it was hard.

What will we say about the winter of 2016-17 next summer?  time will tell.

The graphic above shows the change in the Urban Heat Island for Westfield, 16 years apart.  Read more about this here.

Clear Weather good for Recreation?

Well yes and no.  No rain is certainly a good thing for outdoor recreation.  But clear skies this summer mean no rain and a drought.  Further it means HOT.

Loads of people are outside enjoying clear skies, getting sun burned and drinking lots of beers.   Like driving after midnight, toasted recreationists (pun intended) will hit the roads.

So today folks, enjoy the outside, drinks lots of water, protect against that harmful UV Radiation and stay cool....if you can find a cool spot.

Cities and Urban Heat Islands

Just check out these animations about city growth that highlight the need to set aside parks to mitigate urban heat islands.

For example, the former Westfield City Green "used" to have cooler temperatures.

Isotherms of cooler Temps around former Green.

Urban Heat Islands

Even when adjusted for different current weather conditions, the area has grown for urban heat islands in our little town of Westfield.

How adjusted? well the median temps for each period was used to reclassify the maps into area of UHI and not. Simple right?

Urban Heat Islands part tres?

Working with one of my students to replicate our UHI study in Westfield. Since the town is all torn up and being reconstructed from the benefit of federal stimulus $, what better time to check out the old urban temperatures.

We will present this research at NESTVAL 2010 at UCONN later this semester, but in the meantime check out this isothermal map.

OK, please note that the temperature scale is identical for both 1993 and 2009. This means that the overall temperature was warmer last year (and that the temps in 1993 were cooler ... duhhh). We figured a way to standardize this with some fancy GIS work. I'll show that in a later post.

It's not the heat, it is the humidity

We left dinner last night about 7PM and our car's thermometer registered 108 degrees F! And we were in the shade.

Once we left the parking lot, the temperatures cooled to 104.

My wife and I have a game we play as we drive home. We try to guess what the temperature might be at the "farmhouse". Topographically, we are located in a small creek valley and it is fairly wooded (except for our neighbors to the west that clear cut their backyard). It is typically 4 degrees cooler at our house compared to downtown Westfield.

I've written about urban heat islands and everything we noticed yesterday points to this. Urban temperatures (and other built up environments) are warmer.

I'm going to plant some more trees!

Urban Heat Island to Increase in Westfield?

I don't know. I was driving through town today and noticed that all the beautiful trees in the Green were being chopped down. Maybe the city needs some money. Just makes me want to do another UHI study this fall to see the impact. After all, this past fall we found the Green to be one degree cooler than the rest of downtown Westfield.

Check out the slide from our research where we discovered the cooling effect of the Green. Stay tuned. Click on the graphic to enlarge it.

Urban parks mitigate Urban Heat Islands

I have a class project this semester and we are looking into the urban heat island effect in Westfield MA. The students are blanketing the city tomorrow morning before dawn to measure the air temperature in this 40 square mile city. Some task, eh?