extreme rainfall

Extreme rainfall is happening more often in a warming world, especially in the past few years in the U.S.

Credit:

More Extreme Rain: Climate Extremes Index

  • Sep 12, 2018

By Climate Central

This summer has brought flooding rainfall to several parts of the U.S. Pennsylvania had its wettest summer on record, and the neighboring states of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia each had one of their 10 wettest summers on record. The warming climate enhances the water cycle, leading to more extreme rainfall. The NCEI Climate Extremes Index indicates a surge in the amount of precipitation in the U.S. from the heaviest 1-day events over the past 20 years.

Methodology:The Climate Extremes Index has been developed and calculated by NCEI.

 

This originally appeared on Climate Central.