Our water cycle, which refers to how water circulates on our globe, is being impacted by climate change. Dry areas are becoming drier while wet areas are becoming more wet. However, the amount of rain we receive now tends to come in more heavy downpours, increasing the risk of flooding. By the end of the century, it is anticipated that our country’s floodplains would have increased by around 45 percent as a result of global warming’s continued acceleration of weather extremes and sea level rise. The United States experiences heavy rain every year, which kills almost as many people as tornadoes, hurricanes, or lightning combined. It is one of the most frequent and fatal natural disasters in the country. Every state and every county have been ravaged by them, and in many places, they are getting worse. There are several factors that can result in flooding. For instance, flooding may become a more prevalent problem as the world warms. Such as:
● The strongest precipitation events could get heavier when air temperatures rise because warm air contains more moisture than cool air.
● In addition, the pressure from melting glaciers may cause the natural dams that contain meltwater to fail.
● When it comes to floods, rain is not always to blame. Significant flooding can result from storm surges caused by hurricanes and other storms, as well as from tsunamis that are sometimes brought on by underwater earthquakes.
Another cause for concern is that relating climate change to flooding might be challenging. Numerous weather- and human-related factors influence whether a flood occurs, and the lack of data on historical floods makes it challenging to compare them to current flood trends that are influenced by climate change. However, it is becoming more evident that climate change “has detectably influenced” numerous of the water-related factors that cause floods, such as rainfall and snowmelt, as the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) stated in its special report on extremes. Here are some important elements that affect how our climate changes due to the atmosphere:
● More moisture can be held in a warmer environment. In actuality, the atmosphere can hold about 7% extra moisture for every degree of warming.
● If there is extra moisture, more rain may fall in brief but severe downpours.
● There is more energy available for weather systems that produce severe rainfall, there is a potential rise in the risk of flash flooding.
Furthermore, it is anticipated that this century will see an increase in the frequency of our strongest storms. Over the next 80 years, it is anticipated that the frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes—the most destructive—will rise by 80% across the Atlantic basin. Stronger storms also produce more rain. The wettest hurricane to hit the country in the previous 70 years was Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall in 2017 as a category 4 storm and inundated 200,000 Houston homes and businesses with catastrophic flooding. In Australia over the past ten years, floods have contributed the most to economic losses caused by extreme weather, followed by tropical cyclones and droughts. In fact, if emissions don’t stop, by 2060, floods may cost the Australian economy $40 billion year. Heavy rain will become more frequent as the Earth warms, according to decades of climate science predictions. Scientists are now able to monitor what’s happening in real time.
In conclusion, I can state that if people continue to burn copious amounts of oil, gas, and coal, the atmosphere will continue to heat up, resulting in more frequent and severe heavy rain throughout this century. In the next ten years or so, if greenhouse gas emissions are drastically reduced by humans, it will aid in reducing heavy rain, especially later this century. To lessen the effects of climate change, we must refrain from cutting down trees. We must band together and start taking effective measures to protect the earth as the climate warms and the water level rises.
References:
Image: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/our-planet-our-health_en
Articles:
https://www.nrdc.org/search?search_api_fulltext=stories%20flooding%20climate%20change%2
0everything%20you%20need%20knowhttps:%20coastal%20climatecentral%20org
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/09/13/extreme-flooding-increase-climate-change
