Extreme rainfall has nearly erased severe drought
SOUTH BEND, Ind – When it’s dry it’s dry and when it rains it really pours, or so seems to be the more extreme weather pattern. A warmer atmosphere means more evaporation, then clouds can hold more water, the result is heavier rainfall, rinse and repeat, LITERALLY. This is simple physics. While some connections to climate change are murkier, this threat verifies year after year, sometimes month after month! Just look at our Local Climate Impact page.
South Bend and most of Michiana experienced a rapid onset of drought from the end of May through June. But the deficit started in April.
The very end of June, and multiple rounds in July have nearly made up the entire deficit.
At the very end of the month, severe weather and flash flooding, upwards of five inches of rain fell in parts of the area. A rain event like that used to be a near 0.2% probability on any given day in a year, is now an almost annual occurrence.
The Bootheel region of Missouri and surrounding area have seen two such events this summer. One in Western Kentuckey where six to 12 inches of rain fell. The other at the beginning of August in southeast Missouri.
JUNE 19-20, 2023
These will be added to an already growing pile of observed evidence of observed impact of climate change, that were predicted near the very start of the thesis.
AUG 3, 2023