According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), climate change may lead to as much as 30 percent more rain, sleet, and snow by the end of this century.
The study, conducted by a team of researchers from the North Carolina State University’s Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites-North Carolina (CICS-NC), NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the Desert Research Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and ERT, Inc., reports that the extra moisture due to a warmer atmosphere dominates all other factors and leads to notable increases in the most intense precipitation rates.
The study also shows a 20-30 percent expected increase in the maximum precipitation possible over large portions of the Northern Hemisphere by the end of the 21st century if greenhouse gases continue to rise at a high emissions rate
“We have high confidence that the most extreme rainfalls will become even more intense, as it is virtually certain that the atmosphere will provide more water to fuel these events,” said Kenneth Kunkel, Ph.D., senior research professor at CICS-NC and lead author of the paper.
2099 may seem like a long time from now and everyone who is reading this will be gone by then, but in the meantime freak weathers events will occur with increasing frequency and will become the new normal.
Recent events have shown us that our national infrastructure is clearly unprepared for the significant weather events we are experiencing right now without adding another 30 percent of moisture on top of it.
Resident of North Dakota are currently preparing for the possibility that they may face a record flood of over 40 feet because of above-average snow pack. Meanwhile, Winter Storm Walda is poised to dump two feet of snow on South Dakota in the middle of April.
(H/T ThinkProgress)