The Northeast is experiencing numerous impacts from climate change, and the one you might notice the most is heavier rain.
Jen Brady, a senior data analyst at Climate Central, says this is because as the atmosphere warms, the amount of extreme rainfall events increases. Brady said, “We know warmer air holds more water, and so there is a direct correlation between warmer temperatures we are seeing and heavier rainfall we are also seeing in places.”
The United States has seen an increase in heavy rainfall events, especially in the northeast. “The northeast has had the largest increase in what they call extreme rainfall,” said Brady, “and it was at 60 percent, which is a pretty significant increase in those extreme events.”
But we can expect more of a change in the future as well. Brady said, “They also looked at how this trend is expected forward. And it is even larger going forward. It’s expected with a two-degree change, which is what a lot of people see coming. Its possible that in some places in Vermont more than 30 percent change in more extreme rainfall days.”
Brady says it’s not the rain you experience over a 3-day span. It’s the short, heavy rain that can cause damage. “More rain in shorter amounts of time, not more rain overall. It’s not necessarily you’re going to see a wetter year overall, but you’re going to see it really come down really fast in a really short amount of time. And I think Vermont unfortunately had some excellent examples of the impacts of really heavy, really intense, really quick rainfall and what that causes,” said Brady.
Just because you don’t receive that heavy rainfall doesn’t mean you can’t feel the impacts of it. Brady said, “It doesn’t even have to rain where you are to have the impacts if you have a lot of streams and rivers around you. It can rain miles upstream, and you may flood.”
Article Credit: mychamplainvalley