Urbanization-Induced Diurnal Variation in Short-Duration Rainfall Events in Wuhan, China

Abstract

Increasing of evidence suggests that rapid urbanization modifies precipitation and increases atmospheric instability in urban areas mainly due to urban heat island (UHI)-induced thermal effects and urban building-induced dynamic effects. However, few studies focus on the impact of urbanization on the diurnal variations in urban rainfall in terms of initiating time, frequency, amount, and intensity. Here, six years of hourly data from a relatively dense meteorological observation network in the Wuhan area in central China are used to quantify the issue of urbanization-induced diurnal variations in hourly rainfall and short-duration rainfall (SDR) events by comparing urban and surrounding rural stations during the summer dry period (13 July to 4 August), corresponding to hot weather with little rainfall and high evaporation. The results indicate that: (i) A higher frequency of hourly rainfall appears during night-time and afternoon over urban areas as compared to rural areas. The urban rainfall is more concentrated during the night-time; (ii) More and stronger urban SDR events are triggered during the night-time over urban areas, especially in terms of amount and intensity of rainfall events. A greater diurnal urban–rural difference in SDR events is detected than that in hourly mean rainfall; (iii) There is an enhancement in the night-time and afternoon urban SDR events when UHI intensity increases before they are initiated, and this is detectable in the frequency, amount, and intensity of SDR events. It is also found that the UHI-induced thermal effects are the main reason for the stronger nocturnal SDR events in Wuhan during the summer dry period, which is caused by increases in the convection current and water vapor flux convergence in the urban areas.