IF YOU hate heavy rain and thunderstorms, don鈥檛 live downwind of a coastal city.
Marshall Shepherd of NASA鈥檚 Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and Steve Burian of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville have used data from NASA鈥檚 Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite to monitor rainfall rates in and around Houston, Texas, between 1998 and 2002. In summer, rainfall was 29 per cent greater in Houston itself and 44 per cent greater downwind of the city than in upwind areas (Earth Interactions, vol 7, paper 6). Cities are hotter than their surroundings and create updrafts of air that favour cloud formation. The effect may be stronger for coastal cities because streets channel coastal winds and push them upwards.
