It was an open debate, even in elevator talks: has it rained more or less in recent years? Does global warming have something to do with it? Well, according to a work published in the journal Nature Climate Change , it seems that the climate is becoming, indeed, more humid ; or at least, in a more aggressive way: “We have observed robust and significant increases in heavy rainfall,” sums up Markus Donat, climatologist at the University of New South Wales (Australia) and director of the research.
Until now, some models indicated that in drier areas aridity was worsening due to climate change , but this study indicates that even in those places it also rains more due to the increase in humidity driven by heat.
Donat and his team collected data from 11,000 weather stations between 1951 and 2010. They were able to observe that both the annual volume of rainfall and daily highs increased in the driest areas of North America, Australia and Asia . Something similar happened in the humid regions, although the increase was more moderate if the annual volume of rainfall was taken into account. These data were consistent with climatological models: rising temperatures in the global climate lead to more extreme rainfall.
It is also in tune with another study carried out by experts from the Institute for Climate Impact Research in Potsdam (Germany) in 2015, where it was concluded that there were more and more episodes of rains , sometimes with catastrophic consequences, that broke the recorded records. by meteorologists . The weather is getting intense, keep your umbrellas close at hand.
