Extreme rain and snow events linked to global warming, study finds
Authors say a study that looked at the rise in extreme rain and snowfall in the Northern Hemisphere in the last half of the 20th century is the first to show a link to global warming.
An increase in snow and rain levels in the second half of the 20th century is now being linked to global warming.
Dennis Fast/Newscom
Global warming helped drive a rise in the intensity of extreme rain and snowfall across much of the Northern Hemisphere during the last half of the 20th century, a new study has found.
The work builds on previous research that established broad trends in extreme precipitation events over the 20th century. Those studies suggested a link between climate change and heavy precipitation, based on the atmosphere's ability to hold more moisture as it warms.
But, according to the research team that conducted the new study, those studies stopped short of presenting evidence for a direct link between human-triggered global warming and extreme precipitation.
This latest study, the team says, represents the first time scientists have formally identified a link between the warming during the last half of the 20th century and the trends in extreme precipitation.
Until now,"there has not been a study that formally identified this human effect in precipitation extremes," says Francis Zwiers, a climate scientist who heads the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. This new study "provides specific scientific evidence that that is indeed the case."
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