Impact of advection on the urban heat of a small-sized city: The Urban Heat island Experiment Around Lubbock, Texas (U-HEAT)

In the era of rapid climate change in the 21st century, urbanized areas are projected to yield, on average, enhanced warming relative to overall warming in the rural areas while heat-related illnesses account for the most weather-related deaths per year in the United States. However, overall warming depends on cities' climate and seasons as the sustainability planning around global cities differ. The heat-related dangers can be enhanced in cities via urban heat island (UHI). Large cities remained at the forefront of UHI research, with little emphasis given to UHI in small-sized cities. To bridge this gap, we utilized a localized temperature-sensor-network, along with the existing WTM, with a key focus to investigate the UHI of a small-sized city (Lubbock, Texas), when compared to larger metropolitans in the United States and around the world focused on UHI. The Urban Heat Experiment Around Lubbock, Texas (U-HEAT) deployed a network of low-cost HOBO-temperature sensors around the city to understand the UHI intensity (UHII) and urban heat advection (UHA) using measurements of prevailing wind and upwind temperature (i.e., reference rural-background). Results revealed that traditional UHII differed from UHII using the novel U-HEAT method by 2.5 °C. Additionally, strong evidence of UHA under moderate windspeed (2–4 ms −1 ) rather than low or high wind regimes was found. Mobile deployments showed evidence of UHA yielding greater than 4 °C temperature increase downwind. This work will help facilitate better forecasts of extreme heat within and around cities and provide pathways for adaptation, mitigation, and resiliency efforts for extreme UHI and UHA. • The U-HEAT network was found to be useful in identifying UHII and UHA. • UHA is maximized under the presence of moderate wind regimes (2–6 ms −1 ). • UHA can contribute up to 4 °C of downwind heating in rural regions. • Mobile measurements showed up to 4 °C difference in temperature across the city.