The urban climate of Budapest: Past, present and future

Abstract

Since the groundbreaking survey of Budapest's urban climate in 1974, litt le has been done to reveal how the summer heat island of the city has changed. During the last couple of decades, the impact of the anthropogenic heat release due to the spectacular expansion of automobile traffi c and the widespread use of air conditioners may have added an estimated 1-1.5 °C to the temperature surplus of the city. As an evidence of the large-scale climate change, the homogenized temperature record of Budapest shows a strongly growing frequency and persistence of severe heat waves plaguing city dwellers. Regional models predict rising temperatures with more pronounced summer warming until 2100 in the Carpathian Basin. Therefore, the cooler local climates of the Danube islands and the Budai Hills should be appreciated as valuable environmental assets to be saved by more reasonable land use policies and stricter property development regulations.