Abstract: Urbanization has a significant influence on the frequency and intensity of heat waves, but the mechanism of the effect of urbanization on the high-temperature process is not fully understood. In this study, the authors used the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to simulate a summer high-temperature process on 2–6 July 2010 in Beijing. This paper reports the main results obtained regarding the urbanization effect on the surface air temperature of urban areas during the heat-wave process. The optimized WRF model was able to simulate the temporal characteristics of the five consecutive days of high temperature and the variation in the urban-heat-island intensity (I_UHI) in Beijing. The impermeability of the underlying urban surface lowers the 2-m relative humidity of urban areas with respect to that of rural areas, which weakens the ability of urban areas to regulate the surface air temperature via latent heat. After sunset, the urban-sensible-heat flux decreases slowly, and the cooling rate in urban areas is slower than that in rural areas. At night, the structure of the boundary layer is stable, and its height is low, as is the wind speed. In this case, the energy transmitted between urban and rural areas is constrained, and the strong urban heat island is formed, resulting in the temperature in urban area is significantly higher than that in rural area at night. After sunrise, both the sensible and latent heat fluxes of urban and rural land surfaces increase rapidly, and the stability of the boundary layer decreases. In the afternoon, the underlying urban surface favors high and low value centers in the sensible and latent heat fluxes, respectively, with a weakened ability to regulate temperature via latent heat. This is conducive to vertical exchange of energy, which decreases the stability of the boundary layer. The I_UHI is lower in the afternoon than in the evening. Therefore, the obvious urban-heat-island effect created by the underlying urban surface in Beijing increases the strength of extreme-high-temperature events. Furthermore, in this heat-wave process, most of the eastern part of China is controlled by continental warm high pressure with clear skies and few clouds, and the northwesterly winds flowing over the Taihang Mountains generate a Fohn effect, which is the synoptic situations of the heat-wave formation in Beijing.