Katharine Hayhoe: How is climate change increasing the risk of heavy rainfall? It’s basic physics: warmer air holds more water vapour. So when a storm comes along today, there’s a lot more of it available for that storm to sweep up and dump than there was 50 or 100 years ago. A LOT.

How is climate change increasing the risk of heavy rainfall? It’s basic physics: warmer air holds more water vapour. So when a storm comes along today, there’s a lot more of it available for that storm to sweep up and dump than there was 50 or 100 years ago. A LOT.

This isn’t getting as much traction as it should but the flooding in south Brazil is horrific. Over 600,000 people homeless, entire cities have disappeared under water because we’ve been harming the environment so much and this will get worse as more rain hits the region

Ugh. Just searched and found this article about waterborne diseases.

Brazil's flooded south sees first deaths from disease, as experts warn of coming surge in fatalitieswww.yahoo.com Four deaths from waterborne bacterial diseases were reported in southern Brazil, where floodwaters were slowly receding, and health authorities warned additional fatalities were likely. Since the begi...

Indeed. But warmer air is only the smaller part of the reason. The big part is warmer oceans. Warmer oceans contain more energy and can form much bigger storm clouds much faster. Instant hurricanes that didn’t even exist 2 days earlier can destroy cities a few hours later as Hurricane Otis did

My post above was not speaking about hurricanes, but rather heavy rainfall events in general. I have many other resources that speak specifically about hurricanes, such as below. Happy to discuss or answer questions, but please don’t mansplain. Thank you ! www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUYH...

Did Climate Change Cause This Hurricane?www.youtube.com Whenever a big storm like Hurricane Douglas or Hurricane Hanna hits, one of the first questions everyone wants to know is 'Was this latest hurricane caused b...

A lot of people have trouble reconciling that with the *also* increased incidents of drought. But it's also simple: 1) A warmer climate also *dries out* terrain faster 2) Monsoon belts expand, making rainfall more seasonal (wet & dry extremes) 3) Less snowpack makes rivers more seasonal.

That’s totally right, but I think it’s easy to explain that our extremes are being stretched in both directions. When I put it that way, most people seem to get it!

Just increase the sigma in the normal distribution of "today's weather (humidity, rainfall, storm, ...)".

Exactly. Feast or famine.

Anecdotal- over the last 18 months, daily humidity levels in Austin seem to be going up, I’m suspecting because the Gulf is hot. I have an incubator for neonatal kittens. It is regularly hitting internal humidity of 60%+ and the house hovers at 55-60 internal humidity. And I have central air!

They replaced our air conditioner in Dallas because it couldn’t cool below 80° last summer! How a warming planet is affecting humidity is a bit complicated, though. This is a good explainer if you are interested. www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-i...

Guest post: Investigating climate change’s ‘humidity paradox’www.carbonbrief.org The key reasons for the humidity paradox are two-fold: the Earth is warming and warmer air can hold more water vapour.

Oh thank you! Also are y’all okay after the Storm series the last few days?

Thankfully yes, but I know others who are still waiting for their power to be restored.

Even in Austin, a dehumidifier for the bedroom can help reduce the A/C load and save money. I got that from an Austin architect who helped develop the LEED standards.

yeah.. sad but true. Don’t think Mother Nature intended there to be so many people on this earth.. too many people needing food, heat, electricity.. transportation… just too many people…its not sustainable in the long term..she’s pissed!

It is not the actual number of people, but the fact that a small number live in such an unsustainable way, consuming a disproportionate amount of the earth’s resources. That massive inequality means that Thanos with his glove wouldn’t fix it. eg

richest 1% | Oxfam Internationalwww.oxfam.org

Maybe he should make half of the money disappear instead of half of the people. 🤔

Now there’s a thought

It’s ironic that basic physics is disregarded by climate change deniers who have no second thought about using technologies made possible by the same physics.

It is, and I have a global weirding episode explaining it! Science denial is actually just an excuse for solution aversion. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkMI...

If I just explain the facts, they'll get it, right?www.youtube.com Global Weirding is produced by KTTZ Texas Tech Public Media and distributed by PBS Digital Studios. New episodes every other Wednesday at 10 am central. Brou...

Oh, yeah, sure, sure. Riiiiight. And I suppose you think you're some kind of climate scientist or professor or something....-- (Reads poster's profile) Oh.

😁

And warmer air and warmer water leads to more evaporation => more water that will fall down as rain somewhere.

Yes! The whole hydrological cycle is accelerating in a warmer world

Also helpful is the idea, that if the entire world has warmed up by about 1.5°c on average, the total evaporation taking place around the globe also increases significantly. And all of that water needs to find its way down sooner or later 🌧️⛈️🌨️

How are Katharine

Oh well its not murica so wgaf

Looks like Bolsonaro's wholesale rape of the Amazon basin is paying dividends - and not in a good way, either.

isn't there is approximately 3 ml of water per litre of air

Depends on temp

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