It always stays warmer and drier. In addition, the concrete and asphalt surfaces are impervious to water, so heavy rain creates the potential for local flash flooding. Carlson emphasized he is not preaching doom and gloom to city and regional planners. Instead, he wanted to present them with another tool to use as they try to intelligently map out the future. A duck pond here and a garden there, he said, are crucial to maintaining normal microclimates.
Vegetation is really the mitigating factor here.
Planting trees and bushes, keeping farmland where we can. The land is so valuable. The Penn State program uses NASA satellite images taken over eastern Pennsylvania between 1987 and 1996. Carlson and his associates then supplement the maps with local terrain, roads, bodies of water and protected areas. Jim Gilmore is no George Allen, and the new Virginia governor wants to show it by supporting a series of environmental measures that will help him mend fences with environmentalists who battled the conservative Allen constantly.