Comment 66753

By John Neary (registered)
Posted July 21, 2011 at 20:48:52 in reply to Comment 66743

I think UrbanRenaissance hit the nail on the head. It's obvious walking around the city on a day like this that it's hotter on asphalt than on grass. But any such difference in the winter is not at all obvious. On a clear winter day without snow cover a parking lot would probably be very slightly warmer than a park but the difference would be much smaller than in the summer.

As a postscript, the one silver lining of parking lots in the summer (in principle at least) is that they probably interfere with wind currents less than buildings do. But in the winter that effect would work against them.

Needless to say, thermal burns from asphalt are a pretty rare occurrence. But the ability of asphalt to cause burns is indicative of how much it contributes to the heat island effect.

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