<p>Urban areas these days can be quite large, and they can have strong effects on the environment: the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island">urban heat island</a> effect being the most obvious, but there may be other, more subtle effects. The relative lack of vegetation and drainage might make them drier, the concentration of high-rise buildings might approximate the effect of small hills, and there's also the air pollution they produce.</p>

<p>Thus I suspect that large urban areas might have an effect on rain, but exactly how? Do they cause more rain or less around them? What about any effects downwind?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-02T17:43:56.560Z
Related: https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/2351/how-can-you-explain-this-storm-phenomenon
milancurcic
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-04T21:39:52.320Z
A simple, naturalist and pragmatic answer: a friend of mine living in Paris told me that it does not rain any more nowadays, in Paris city.

When I did my studies in Paris, back in the 80's, it did rain quite a lot, I remember very clearly. I think that my friend was exaggerating a bit, though: I would rather say that nowadays, it rains much less in Paris than, say, 30 years ago. This is very probably a consequence of the heating that you mention, in my humble opinion.
Pierre
<meteorology><precipitation>
How do urban areas affect rain?
congusbongus
# How do urban areas affect rain?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-10-02)

Urban areas these days can be quite large, and they can have strong effects on the environment: the [urban heat island](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island) effect being the most obvious, but there may be other, more subtle effects. The relative lack of vegetation and drainage might make them drier, the concentration of high-rise buildings might approximate the effect of small hills, and there's also the air pollution they produce.

Thus I suspect that large urban areas might have an effect on rain, but exactly how? Do they cause more rain or less around them? What about any effects downwind?

**Tags:** meteorology, precipitation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Related: https://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/2351/how-can-you-explain-this-storm-phenomenon  
> **username_2**: A simple, naturalist and pragmatic answer: a friend of mine living in Paris told me that it does not rain any more nowadays, in Paris city.  When I did my studies in Paris, back in the 80's, it did rain quite a lot, I remember very clearly. I think that my friend was exaggerating a bit, though: I would rather say that nowadays, it rains much less in Paris than, say, 30 years ago. This is very probably a consequence of the heating that you mention, in my humble opinion.  

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