The Effects of Urbanization on the Local Weather and Climate of Chicago

Urban environments result in substantial changes to the roughness and radiative properties of the surface – these changes can affect local weather and climate within the urban canopy. The Chicago metropolitan area has experienced dramatic urban growth over the past few decades resulting in significant changes in land cover. The effects of this increasing urban environment are modeled to gain insight into the small scale thermal variations resulting from urban structures as well as possible mitigation strategies in present heat waves and late 21 Century business-as-usual climate scenarios.