Why The Weather Is Worse At The Mall

Extreme weather sometimes happens in very specific areas thanks to extreme surface temperature differences.

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
Evapotranspiration: the return of water to the atmosphere from the ground surface.
Troposphere: The lowest region of the Earth’s atmosphere, extending usually to around 10 km above the Earth’s surface.
Tropopause: The top-most boundary of the troposphere.
Low Pressure System: An area of relatively low pressure that draws air into it, causing converging winds.
Micro-climate: The climate of a very small or restricted area.
Heat Island: An urban area that has higher average temperatures than its surrounding due to the heat absorption of materials like concrete and asphalt.

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CREDITS
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David Goldenberg | Script Writer, Narrator and Director
Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation
Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

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Sarah Berman • Arcadi Garcia i Rius
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REFERENCES
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Terzi, L. (2021). Personal communication. Belgian Nuclear Research Center.

[jjsinopoli]

This is why it rains worse above my neighbor's paved driveway than my gravel one. Some would say it's actually because my sprinklers are aimed at his house but they're wrong.

[Connie.T.]

Great video. A little more detail on heat islands from a former environmental science student:

Same as with the effect of climate change on severe weather events, heat islands don't usually *trigger* severe weather, but *exacerbate* it. You need other factors, like wind shear and cold air aloft, to help make hail happen. Heat islands just add to a larger mixture of favorable conditions and make it easier to meet the threshold of severe hail (over 1 in.). Similarly, the same setup can often lead to a more severe storm over heat islands vs elsewhere.

That's why malls aren't constantly pounded by hail, just more statistically likely to!

[ipsumquaerere]

Every year we're getting closer to becoming weathermages!

[johnsteinat]

I never even known these phenomenon were things. I knew heat Islands were things but that hail storms happened over malls.

[VinaySingh-jmiw]

The pun at the end of the video was excellent. Not corny at all and right in tone with this channel's atmosphere. Please give whoever wrote that a bonus!

[martinkunev]

This applies mostly to North america, not the entire earth. Malls in europe for example are mostly in cities so they don't have big parkings and trees surrounding them.

[noraalmarzooqi]

I just came back from the mall i never questioned why the weather is worse in the mall but im curious and thank you minutearth for teaching me more about science, principles, biology and ecology.

[schlaumayer]

We could also put concrete everywhere, then there's no difference in surface temperature

[JaycenGiga]

Yet another reason for walkable, green cities, reducing car usage, and increasing public transport. Car dependency is hell in so many ways.

[sterlingheart]

Kinda surprised you didn't mention airports, some get it so bad they have to run cloud seeding planes to cause the clouds to drop the hail earlier while it's small

[cannonhanson]

Painting the ground white sounds like every driver is going to be blind

[domino_]

MinuteEarth: the answers we need to the questions we never asked.

[ShashankSawantPhD]

Perhaps covering the existing parking lots with solar panels might be a better option instead of just painting them white. Shade + electricity for cars.

[Ascertivus]

I had no idea that this phenomenon happened. This is so fascinating! Excellent video and topic.

[Tomato]

I got a better idea: stop building mega-malls and instead create walkable neighbourhoods where shops are right there in the residential zones.

[LavenderLushLuxury]

Another great important science weather video, Minute

[basantprasadsgarden]

Somebody: Hail storms out of shopping malls are just coincidence.
Minute earth: Hold my YouTube channel!

[ziggykerman]

First full video I’ve watched in a while from here.
And it’s like how I left it.

[atmosphericSkull]

surprised at how literal this one was, i was expecting something more tricky

[robertzeroat]

What do you think about putting solar panels above the parking space?
- it can provide energy for the mall
- prevent the cars from being exposed to the sun
- and on a rainy day you reach the mall without getting wet
Could it reduce this problem as well?