A ‘perfect storm’ is unfolding this summer and it’s ‘supercharging’ the weather, scientist says
A “perfect storm” is unfolding this summer, one climate scientist told CNN, as atmospheric ingredients combine to create deadly flooding in the Northeast US and record-breaking heat in the Southwest US and around the world.
Deadly flooding inundated parts of the Northeast, trapping people in their homes and killing at least one woman who was swept away by the fast-moving water. Rivers in Vermont rose quickly in the torrential rain on Monday to levels not seen since Hurricane Irene in 2011.
On Sunday, more than 7.5 inches of rain fell at West Point, New York, in just six hours — a 1,000-year rainfall event for the area, according to a CNN analysis of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A 1,000-year rainfall event is one that is so intense, it only happens on average once every 1,000 years.
The climate crisis is stacking the deck in favor of more intense weather events like the heavy rain and flooding in the Northeast, said Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist and distinguished professor at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Sure, weather is weather. It’s going to happen — rainfall, flooding events are going to happen,” Mann told CNN. “What climate change is doing is it’s supercharging them, so when you get one of those weather systems that’s producing large amounts of rainfall, you get more rainfall.”
There’s another, more surprising way that the climate crisis could be driving these extreme rainfall events, Mann said, and it’s something on the forefront of climate research: The jet stream could be getting “stuck” in positions that prolong these kinds of extreme events.
A “perfect storm” is unfolding this summer, one climate scientist told CNN, as atmospheric ingredients combine to create deadly flooding in the Northeast US and record-breaking heat in the Southwest US and around the world. Deadly flooding inundated parts of the Northeast, trapping people in their homes and killing at least one woman who was swept away by the fast-moving water. Rivers…