The temperature in Atlanta is 5 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit higher than outlying areas, and this excess heat produces increased rainfall and thunderstorms. NOAA Photo Library. This finding was presented at the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Honolulu, Hawaii on March 24 by meteorologists Robert Bornstein and Qing Lu Lin from San Jose State University in California. Dale Quattrochi and Jeffrey Luvall of NASA's Global Hydrology Center lead this NASA-sponsored study . As the heat in a city builds, hot air rises.
Colder air rushes into the vacuum, creating winds.
The warmer ascending air forms clouds that drop water as they continue to rise. Bornstein and Lin found that Atlanta's urban heat island causes convective clouds to form over the city. Turbulent gust front clouds. These types of clouds should also produce thunder and lightning. Bornstein and Lin used data collected by the National Weather Service and the Georgia Automated Environmental Network.