One of the biggest climate change threats - Rain

[Leigha]

I haven't been hearing much about rain, in terms of how greatly it's contributing to climate change. But this article offers some keen insight into a potentially worsening problem. 

The last 12 months have been the wettest in U.S. history. Spring flooding drowned huge swaths of the Midwest this year, wrecking communities and essentially turning farms into inland seas. Floodwaters overwhelmed levees in the nation’s heartland, drenching towns and causing billions of dollars in infrastructure and crop damage. During May, a stormy pattern boosted the national monthly precipitation average to the second-highest level on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Read on: https://grist.org/article/rain-hurricane-barry-flooding-climate-change/?

[C C]

Couldn't get that page to show as anything other than blank for some reason (might be a specific browser related problem). Found it repeated here: http://www.envirolink.org/2019/07/18/one...liar-rain/

"In many regions with high precipitation, scientists predict we’ll continue to see more extreme rainfall. As NOAA stated in a 2018 report, 'Annual flood records are expected to be broken again next year and for years and decades to come.'"

Flooding in high risk areas with fewer or no passive years in-between anymore (becoming an annual event) should skyrocket the 'geographical risk' factor enough to make them uninsurable properties. Apparently that's what it finally takes to stop some people from residentially doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

[Syne]

That's weather, not climate. It takes more than one year to establish a trend, even if scientists are predicting it, as their predictions are notoriously inaccurate.

Increasing 7% over a century is not anything to worry about, otherwise we'd have been hearing about it for years...instead of only the one especially rainy year.

[Leigha]

Well, it's threatening to our environment. I read an article discussing how global warming is causing this increase in rain fall. The thing to keep in mind though is that higher rain fall averages are due to heavy storm events, such as hurricanes. But, we're also seeing less rain and more droughts in certain areas of the US and the rest of the world, as well. Scientists believe that if we don't try to gain some control over carbon emissions, these weather trends/extremes will continue, hurting our environment.

What do you think?

[Magical Realist]

Here's a good article describing the relationship between rainfall amounts and global warming..

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/...fall-rates

"It’s a well-known scientific principle that warmer air holds more water vapor. In fact, the amount of moisture that can be held in air grows very rapidly as temperatures increase. So, it’s expected that in general, air will get moister as the Earth warms – provided there is a moisture source. This may cause more intense rainfalls and snow events, which lead to increased risk of flooding.

But warmer air can also more quickly evaporate water from surfaces. This means that areas where it’s not precipitating dry out more quickly. In fact, it’s likely that some regions will experience both more drought and more flooding in the future (just not at the same time!). The dry spells are longer and with faster evaporation causing dryness in soils. But, when the rains fall, they come in heavy downpours potentially leading to more floods. The recent flooding in California – which followed a very intense and prolonged drought – provides a great example.

Okay so what have we observed? It turns out our expectations were correct. Observations reveal more intense rainfalls and flooding in some areas. But in other regions there’s more evaporation and drying with increased drought. Some areas experience both."

[Syne]

Is it threatening, or just like every natural hazard (tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, wildfires, etc.) do humans just bullheadedly build/live wherever they like? Do these natural hazards actually hurt the environment itself, or just our ability to live comfortably in specific environs?

And people always seem to leave out the fact that more carbon and moisture generally means more food crops. Might not mean much to Westerners surrounded by abundance, but some people in the world may think it a god-send.

[Zinjanthropos]

We seem to spend so much time lately concerned about political correctness when maybe we should be worried about our own survival or the health of the planet. Can’t say I take a lot of comfort in thinking gender discrimination and pay equity may get sorted out before the rain falls. I’ll be suffocating in the heat but at least I’ll know it’s ok for me to be whatever. Why can’t we focus on saving the planet first instead of social issues? Not a conspiracy advocate but holy jeezuz, I’d be a happy government if I didn’t have to deal with environmental issues first thing in the morning each and every stinking day.

[C C]

We seem to spend so much time lately concerned about political correctness when maybe we should be worried about our own survival or the health of the planet. Can’t say I take a lot of comfort in thinking gender discrimination and pay equity may get sorted out before the rain falls. I’ll be suffocating in the heat but at least I’ll know it’s ok for me to be whatever. Why can’t we focus on saving the planet first instead of social issues? Not a conspiracy advocate but holy jeezuz, I’d be a happy government if I didn’t have to deal with environmental issues first thing in the morning each and every stinking day.

The various web platforms/services -- that allow individual experts and the groupies of their field to personally tout their "view of the facts" and also express their own opinions and disparaging feelings about the "rival side" -- pretty much ensures that it'll remain the political or ideological equivalent of an old-time religious denominational feud.

Of course, if the world does start falling apart enough in terms of effects, the feud will lessen due to more demanding preoccupation with that. But the confrontations don't strictly swirl around acceptance slash denial of climate change. In other corners it's accepted that it's occurring and the issue is whether it is wholly of artificial or natural causes. And even if that becomes moot there's the conflict of "It's too late to stop or mitigate it, anyway" versus "It can" or "It never could have been stopped or mitigated to begin with" versus "It could have".

Currently, there's even the contrarian POV that "A warmer world might actually turn out to be a better place" versus the mainstream perspective. But obviously that one would at least initially appear to be settled if/when an "everything is going to hell" phase deeply arrives.

[Leigha]

We seem to spend so much time lately concerned about political correctness when maybe we should be worried about our own survival or the health of the planet. Can’t say I take a lot of comfort in thinking gender discrimination and pay equity may get sorted out before the rain falls. I’ll be suffocating in the heat but at least I’ll know it’s ok for me to be whatever. Why can’t we focus on saving the planet first instead of social issues? Not a conspiracy advocate but holy jeezuz, I’d be a happy government if I didn’t have to deal with environmental issues first thing in the morning each and every stinking day.

Good point, Z. If we don't have much of a planet or quality of life due to global warming and other climate threats, all other initiatives really won't matter. Climate change doesn't seem to have the same sense of urgency as social issues, it seems. Maybe we pay attention to those issues that affect us personally, on a daily basis. Global warming affects us on a daily basis, too...but I think there's this sense of cultural apathy that gives way to the idea... ''we have time.''