Wednesday, May 01, 2013

USA Today: Did someone claim that CO2 causes drought? Since it recently rained too much in the Northeast, we've decided that CO2 actually causes too much rain

Climate change: When rain, rain won't go away
The Northeast averages about 55 inches of rain and snow annually, according to NOAA records. That's 10% more than just over a century ago.

What's causing the additional rain? It's simple. Warmer air causes more evaporation from streams, lakes and seas. Warmer air also holds more moisture. So, when it falls, it really unloads — thus, more extreme storms.

"Increased extreme precipitation in the Northeast is one of the clearest signals of climate change that we can see nationwide," says climate expert Donald Wuebbles of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "It's not just more rain, but more rain falling in buckets over long periods of time."

1 comment:

Doug Proctor said...

With the attention span for a soundbite and the intellectual capacity of what can fit in a twitter remark, is it any wonder so few today think beyond what is tweeted to them or what they recall from last night?

History has no meaning if you have learned that you and your times are "special". Every teenager knows this: yesterday is irrelevant when considering the possibilities for tomorrow.

When the temps turn around, will the academic expert be tossed under the wheels, or will other experts simply take their place? The question is like wondering if religions collapse when the current priests turn out to be scoundrels.

A foolish thought.