Intensity Of Snow & Rainstorms Increases Significantly Across US In Past 50 Years - NYT

[hatrack]

Across the United States, the number of severe rainfalls and heavy snows has grown significantly in the last half-century, with the greatest increases in New England and the Middle Atlantic region, according to a report released yesterday. Environment America, a national group that advocates new laws and policies to mitigate the effects of climate change, issued the report.

The report, on the group’s Web site, environmentamerica.org, is an independent analysis of precipitation data from 1948 to 2006 that was vetted by two climate scientists.

It shows that the number of downpours and heavy snows has increased by 22 percent to 26 percent across the country since 1948. Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont were among the states in which occurrences of severe precipitation have increased more than 50 percent, according to the report. In Oregon and Florida, however, the incidence of extreme rainfall dropped slightly, though in Florida the drop was not statistically significant.

In some metropolitan areas, like Baton Rouge, La.; Binghamton, N.Y.; Bloomington, Ind.; Jackson, Miss.; Portland, Me.; and Reading and Williamsport, Pa., occurrences of extreme precipitation more than doubled. “As temperatures rise,” the report notes, “precipitation will become increasingly likely to fall as rain rather than snow, increasing runoff and likely reducing water supplies in areas dependent on snowpack.”

EDIT

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/us/05storms.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Bigmack]

1. Tell it to my brother, who lives in Chehalis, Washington

Where they've had the worst weather - flooding - EVER. Five deaths and folks were being plucked off roofs in helicopters sent up north from, among other places, down here in the San Diego area! It'd be interesting to know whether, and how much, the strength of the Washington state national guard has been affected by the war in Iraq. Ms. Bigmack