The heavy storm system that floods the central and southeastern US with heavy rain and winds fits a wider pattern as rainfall has increased over the eastern US half has increased in recent decades.
Data from the National Maritime and Atmospheric Administration from 1991 to 2020 show that on average the eastern part of the country received more rain, on average, than in the 20th century. At the same time, precipitation decreased in the west.
The sharp East-West division is consistent with predictions from climate scientists who expect wet areas to be wet, with dry areas becoming dry as the world warms.
Without further analysis, individual storms cannot be linked to climate change, but warming the air will result in greater rainfall. This is because warm air has the ability to retain more moisture than cooler air, and has the potential to be fueled due to overall average precipitation, and more intense storms.
The world’s temperatures are increasing year by year, driven by the combustion of fossil fuels that send greenhouse gases that warm the planets into the atmosphere. According to a recent report, the 10 people have been the hottest recordkeeping for nearly 200 years. World Weather Organization.
“When there are these very heavy rain events, trends refer to the heavy trends of these intense events,” said Deanna, an associate professor of climate and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign University.
Severe flooding could be an indirect effect of warming air and increased moisture, according to Gerald Brotzge, a Kentucky national climate scientist and director of the Kentucky Climate Center. If conditions stall a storm system, it can cause heavy rain in the same area, increasing the risk of flooding.
This is what happened when the storm recently stagnated in the region. “I think it’s a once-at-a-time event based on the amount and area covered,” Brotzge said.
Mark Jarvis, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Louisville, Kentucky, described the storm as two. It brought tornadoes, strong winds and hail to the front end, then stalled and dropped historic amounts of rainfall. Western Kentucky, who saw some of the most serious effects of the storm, “it was in the eyes of the bull,” he said.
Heavy rain and flooding are common in Ohio Valley in late winter and early spring, but the system is as common as it is “very rare” for rain. “That’s what you normally see in hurricanes and tropical systems,” he said..
Storm damage is constantly happening, but the possibility that climate change is increasing them is Observed weather trendstherefore Mr.
She said that even in the western half of the United States, which is generally dry, the coming precipitation tends to drop at more extreme levels.
She called it “very eye-opening,” adding, “it’s not particularly comfortable to think we have more of this.”
Source: www.nytimes.com
