There has been a lot of talk of the record heat in Salt Lake City this summer based on official Salt Lake City observations taken at the international airport. It should be noted that the official observation site was located in downtown Salt Lake City until 1928 before being moved to the airport. The airport location was then moved in 2011 to a different airport location. The current airport location has undergone significant changes in ground cover since it was installed. In 2013 (see image) it was a grassy/weedy area with less pavement/buildings around, the observation site now (2021 image) is surrounded by dirt/gravel with more buildings/pavement encroaching the site. These factors obviously increase temperatures especially on sunny light wind days.
I do want to say that climate change (recent global warming and past cooling) is real but I still don't think we know all of the causes, yes some are man made.
For those that don't want to hear it from a old retired meteorologist like me check out this article https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0187-62362008000200002 that includes a comparison (article 3.2) of the 2 meter air temperatures on 15 calm, sunny, dry days. The study looked at the air temperature difference over three different surface types including asphalt/concrete, soil, & grass. This study can directly relate to what is going on at KSLC on sunny light wind days with the change in ground cover under/around the station changing from a weedy/grassy area to dirt/gravel area. The results "might" be eye opening for those (Corbin Young, Eric Benedetti, & others) that still don't think the change in ground cover to a lower albedo is increasing the air temperature.
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