High temperature in Taipei related to UHI effect: expert

Taiwan News
Date: 2016-07-17
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Cheng Ming-dean, weather forecast center director at the Central Weather Bureau (CWB), said in a Facebook post Sunday that the phenomenon of high temperature that had been more frequently recorded in Taipei City, such as 38.2 degrees Celsius recorded on Sunday noon, is related to the urban heat island (UHI) effect.

As Taiwan is an island, it is not easy for temperature to get higher than 38 degrees Celsius, Cheng said.

The CWB said the 38.2 degrees Celsius temperature registered in Taipei on Sunday noon is the second highest temperature in Taipei since the beginning of this year and the fifth highest in Taipei’s July history.

Cheng said, according to scholastic analysis, the spate of high temperature in Taipei is related to the effect of an urban heat island (UHI), which is caused by vegetation on land surfaces being replaced by asphalt pavements and concrete buildings.     [FULL  STORY]