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Abstract Increasing the albedo of urban surfaces, through strategies like white roof installations, has emerged as a promising approach for urban climate adaptation. Yet, modeling these strategies on a large scale is limited by the use of static urban surface albedo representations in the Earth system models. In this study, we developed a new transient urban surface albedo scheme in the Community Earth System Model and evaluated evolving adaptation strategies under varying urban surface albedo configurations. Our simulations model a gradual increase in the urban surface albedo of roofs, impervious roads, and walls from 2015 to 2099 under the SSP3‐7.0 scenario. Results highlight the cooling effects of roof albedo modifications, which reduce the annual‐mean canopy urban heat island intensity from 0.8°C in 2015 to 0.2°C by 2099. Compared to high‐density and medium‐density urban areas, higher albedo configurations are more effective in cooling environments within tall building districts. Additionally, urban surface albedo changes lead to changes in building energy consumption, where high albedo results in more indoor heating usage in urban areas located beyond 30°N and 25°S. This scheme offers potential applications like simulating natural albedo variations across urban surfaces and enables the inclusion of other urban parameters, such as surface emissivity. 

Abstract On 25 December 2016, a 984-hPa cyclone departed Colorado and moved onto the northern plains, drawing a nearby Arctic front into the circulation and wrapping it cyclonically around the equatorward side of the cyclone. A 130-km-wide and 850-km-long swath of surface winds exceeding 25 m s−1 originated underneath the comma head of the lee cyclone and followed the track of the Arctic front from Colorado to Minnesota. These strong winds formed in association with a downslope windstorm and mountain wave over Colorado and Wyoming, producing an elevated jet of strong winds. Central to the distribution of winds in this case is the Arctic air mass, which both shielded the elevated winds from surface friction behind the front and facilitated the mixing of the elevated jet down to the surface just behind the Arctic front, due to steep lapse rates associated with cold-air advection. The intense circulation south of the cyclone center transported the Arctic front and the elevated jet away from the mountains and out across Great Plains. This case is compared to an otherwise similar cyclone that occurred on 28–29 February 2012 in which a downslope windstorm occurred, but no surface mesoscale wind maximum formed due to the absence of a well-defined Arctic front and postfrontal stable layer. Despite the superficial similarities of this surface wind maximum to a sting jet (e.g., origin in the midtroposphere within the comma head of the cyclone, descent evaporating the comma head, acceleration to the top of the boundary layer, and an existence separate from the cold conveyor belt), this swath of winds was not caused by a sting jet.