Urban meteorology: A prospective view from highway meteorology

During the last few decades, differences in urban and rural atmospheric environments have been well studied and understood. Some results of the research have been applied in areas such as urban planning, building design and air pollution control. However, relatively little has been applied for the purpose of winter road maintenance. The authors used traditional technique of comparing observational data from urban and rural sites to reveal the differences of preliminary meteorological parameters between them and also a novel technique, Thermal Mapping, to explore the differences of road surface temperature and road surface state between urban and rural areas. The results show that in urban areas, both atmosphere and road surface are warmer than those in rural areas. Less frost nights and less icy road surface state are recorded at urban sites. The results shown in the paper provide useful information for highway engineers in winter road maintenance.