Tag: Flooding

Extreme and unusual weather: United States Midwest — impacts, consequences

Intersections

Immediate impacts: Immediate and longer-term consequences for people, agriculture, wildlife, etc.: Extreme weather and climate change: the connections and impacts Where are all the birds? What is a flash drought? An earth scientist explains Climate change and agriculture: damage to crops Increasing frequency of drought and decreasing yields for soybeans Higher temperatures will lead to additional crop damage from insects Climate change is intensifying the water…

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What is an atmospheric river?

What is an atmospheric river? A hydrologist explains the good and bad of these flood-prone storms and how they’re changing

Intersections

Qian Cao, University of California, San Diego (from The Conversation) A series of atmospheric rivers is bringing the threat of heavy downpours, flooding, mudslides and avalanches to the Pacific Northwest and California this week [early 2024]. While these storms are dreaded for the damage they can cause, they are also essential to the region’s water supply, particularly in California, as Qian Cao, a hydrologist at…

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Looking back on America’s summer of heat, floods and climate change: Welcome to the new abnormal

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Shuang-Ye Wu, University of Dayton (from The Conversation) The summer of 2022 started with a historic flood in Montana, brought on by heavy rain and melting snow, that tore up roads and caused large areas of Yellowstone National Park to be evacuated. It ended with a record-breaking heat wave in California and much of the West that pushed the power grid to the breaking point,…

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Climate change is intensifying the water cycle, bringing more powerful storms and flooding – here’s what the science shows

Intersections

Mathew Barlow, UMass Lowell (from The Conservation) Powerful storm systems triggered flash flooding across the U.S. in late July 2022, killing at least 25 people in eastern Kentucky as floodwater engulfed homes and set off mudslides. Record rainfall also inundated St. Louis neighborhoods, and another deluge in Nevada flooded the Las Vegas strip. The impact of climate change on extreme water-related events like this is…

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Climate change intersections: wildfires and flooding

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Wildfires in the western United States are becoming more intense and are burning larger areas. At the same time, heavy, extreme rainfall is becoming more frequent and intense. When these happen in the same area within a short period of time, they “can cause dramatically more damage to communities than one of the events alone.” Research indicates that the combination of extreme wildfires and extreme…

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Extreme weather and a changing climate

Intersections

Is there a connection between extreme weather events (torrential rain, polar cold, heatwaves, extended droughts, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes, and more) and a changing climate? Yes. Are extreme weather events happening more frequently? Yes. Are these extreme weather events having a greater impact–-deaths, economic losses, human migration, loss of plant and animal species and even extinction, worsening human physical and mental health, and more. Yes, again….

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Extreme weather and a changing climate

News

Our climate is changing, and rapidly. The evidence is all around us. One result of our changing climate is the increased frequency of weather and weather-related extremes across the Earth–stifling and dangerous heatwaves, prolonged and profound drought, torrential rain leading to deadly and destructive flooding, inexorable sea level rise, explosive wildfires and then smoke affecting skies, air quality, and health thousands of miles away, lives…

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Extreme weather and climate change: the connections and impacts

Quick bibliographies

Is there a connection between extreme weather events (rain, cold, heat, droughts, hail, hurricanes, tornadoes, and more) and climate change? Yes. Are extreme weather events becoming stronger and happening more frequently? Yes. Are these extreme weather events having a greater impact–economic losses, human migration, loss of plant and animal species and even extinction, worsening human health, and more. Yes, again. See the research … Quick…

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Revisiting: Hurricanes are slowing down and becoming more dangerous

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In 2017, Hurricane Harvey moved very slowly across parts of Texas (US) dropping “more than 30 inches of rain in two days and nearly 50 inches over four days.” “Harvey’s rainfall exceeded every known flooding event in American history since 1899.” The reason for the high rainfall totals was the slow movement of the storm–and a 2018 study (Kossin) reports that “between 1949 and 2016,…

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