Wind farms can affect weather in their immediate locality, raising night-time temperatures on the ground, researchers working in Texas have shown. They used satellite data to show that land around newly constructed wind farms warmed more than next-door areas. The result – published in the journal Nature Climate Change – confirms an earlier, smaller study from 2010. The scientists believe the effect is caused by turbines bringing relatively warm air down to ground level. They suggest that turbines in other places might not produce the same value of ground temperature change. The study area, in west-central Texas, saw a major turbine building programme in the middle of the last decade, with the number soaring from 111 in 2003 to 2325 just six years later.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17871300