My father in law who had a science background explained it to me during one of our conversations on GW/Co2 stuff, he was a firm believer.
I’m more of a regional abc radio listener who likes the Farming related content as much of the information is directly related to most of the important discussions we have in relation to weather and climate.
I mentioned to him that I had heard an explanation as to why our farmer’s were not getting the “Finishing” rains as strongly as they historically did 50 plus years ago.
The reason given by the “expert” was that the WA wheatbelt had increased in size and that the crops like wheat, when they ripen their golden colour reflects heat and this decrease the amount of rain.
That’s when he explained the UHI effect and how the data from Nairobi had sent the climate modellers into a frenzy.
Apparently the Kenyan weather data showed a excessively over the top increase in temperatures and a dramatic decrease in rainfall compared to the climate scientists predictions that the scientists thought they had drastically underestimated global warming.
It was the bloke who ran the weather station there, who solved the mystery. He looked at all the satellite images of Nairobi and noticed the growth in the city over the timeframe, he concluded that the ring of shanties (corrugated metal roofs) had drastically increased and as they did the temperatures went up and the rainfall decreased.
Similar scenario as to why the cropping farmers are getting less finishing rains, here.
