Record heat in Salt Lake City?

Here we go again with more record heat for the official Salt Lake City airport (KSLC) observation location. Salt Lake City is setting record heat at a much faster rate than other locations in Utah for the reasons below.

The current airport location has undergone significant changes in ground cover since it was installed in 2011. In September 2011 (see below image) it was a grassy/weedy area with less pavement/buildings around, the observation site now (see May 2023 image below) is surrounded by dirt/gravel with more buildings/pavement encroaching on the site. Nothing can be done to eliminate the urban heat island effect which is one reason for the warmer temperatures. The second and likely bigger reason for the warming temperatures is the change in ground cover directly around KSLC which something could be done about.

For how 2 meter temperatures are affected by ground cover 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 (but not as dramatic) to what is going on at KSLC on sunny light wind days with the change in ground cover around the station changing from a weedy/grassy area to dirt/gravel area.

*Of note is 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 the current location in the image above.