Abstract
Paired simulations are conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting model applied at convection permitting resolution in order to determine the impact of wind turbines (WTs) on the local to mesoscale climate. Using actual WT locations and a model of the effect of the WT rotor on the flow field, it is shown that while the presence of WT changes wind speeds (WSs) and near‐surface air temperature in 4‐km grid cells in which WTs are located, the impact at larger scales on near‐surface air temperature, specific humidity, the fluxes of latent and sensible heat, boundary layer heights, and precipitation is not significant in any season other than summer. During summer, the maximum pairwise difference in grid cell mean temperatures is 0.5 K and the maximum increase in near‐surface specific humidity is 0.4 g/kg. However, a spatial average of the mean seasonal perturbation of air temperature by WT gives a net impact of