In this study, the performances of two widely-used models in air quality community, The Air Pollution Model (TAPM) and the PSU/NCAR fifth-generation Mesoscale Model (MM5), were evaluated and compared at an urban scale (a few kilometres) in the greater Gothenburg (Sweden) using the GÖTE2001 campaign data. Evaluation focused on simulated meteorological variables important to air quality applications: the near-surface air temperature and wind, vertical temperature gradient, low wind speed situation, diurnal cycle and diurnal heating. The results showed that (1) TAPM performs better than MM5 in simulating near-surface air temperature and wind in urban area, (2) both models are able to reproduce nighttime vertical temperature gradient reasonably well, but underestimate daytime temperature gradient, and (3) the two models significantly underestimate the occurrences of low wind speed situation at night. These results indicate that the performance of TAPM in simulating meteorological features over the urban area is generally comparable to that of MM5. TAPM can be used with some confidence to describe the local-scale meteorology needed for air quality applications.