A new study says drenchings like those California has been getting since Christmas will only get wetter and nastier with climate change
nine devastating atmospheric rivers that caused power outages, flooding, levee breaks, washouts and landslides“It could be even worse,” said study author Ruby Leung, a climate scientist at the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Lab. “We need to start planning how would we be able to deal with this.”
Overall precipitation is a bit lessened from adding all the factors, because just as the peak rainfall grows the rainfall on the edges of the storms is predicted to weaken, according to the study. And those flash floods are likely to get worse from what Leung’s paper calls a “sharpening” effect that happens in an ever warmer world. That means more rainfall concentrated in the central areas of storms, falling at higher rates per hour, while at the outer edges rainfall is a bit weaker.Not only can the atmosphere hold 4% more moisture per degree Fahrenheit , but it’s what happens in the storm that changes and makes the precipitation come down even more, Leung said.
“The concepts and impacts of how precipitation features are likely to change are well quantified and well explained,” said David Gochis, an expert in how water affects the weather at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, who wasn’t part of the study.
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