Boise is getting hotter faster than almost any other city in the nation according to an Associated Press report, but the Northwest as a region isn't warming as quickly as other parts of the country.
The AP report on climate change in the U.S. uses temperature data over the last 30 years from the National Climatic Data Center. Boise and Carson City, Nevada's temperatures went up more than four degrees during that time, making them the fastest warming cities.
University of Idaho climatologist John Abatzoglou agrees Boise is heating up. That’s partly because of climate change he says, and partly from what’s called the "urban heat island effect." As a city grows, more land is covered in concrete and asphalt which trap heat.
He says the effect seems to be more pronounced in arid cities and cities in valleys. Boise is both, which might account for its rapid temperature rise. But Abatzoglou doesn’t think Boise is really warming faster than other growing cities in the West.
He says a few unusually cold years in Boise at the beginning of the 30 year period the AP looked at, and some very hot ones at the end may account for the jump.
Abatzoglou adds that all the temperature data for Boise comes from one monitoring station at the Boise airport. He says multiple stations would give a more accurate picture.
“As a climatologist I don’t put too much weight on temperature records that are coming from within cities,” he says. “The amount of warming that I see at an airport station, I sort of take that with a few grains of salt.”
He says there are 40 monitoring stations statewide and many more throughout the region. While the AP report shows the Northwest and Mountain West regions getting hotter, they’re warming slower than other parts of the country.
“[That] Doesn’t necessarily mean that’s going to continue,” Abatzoglou says. “The Northwest might be the region that is going to warm the most over the next 30 years.”
Copyright 2014 Boise State Public Radio