Alert readers will have noticed reports of a number of extreme rainfall events this month.
One such extreme event occurred in China on July 20, when the city of Zhengzhou received more than a year’s rain or more than 25 inches in a day, according to meteorologist Jeff Masters writing Thursday in Yale Climate Connections.
China can expect more such extreme rainfall events in a warming world, he said.
Excerpts from Dr Masters report follow.
”At least 33 people are dead and 8 missing in Zhengzhou, China, after a July 20 extreme rainfall event of nearly unimaginable intensity. Zhengzhou, a megacity of more than 10 million (is) the world’s biggest manufacturing base for iPhones and a major hub for food production and heavy industry.
…. ”The disaster follows on the heels of the extreme rainfall event that killed more than 200 people in Germany and Belgium last week. Both disasters have preliminary damage estimates in excess of $10 billion.
… “According to meteorologist Minghao Zhou, a Ph.D. student at SUNY Albany, the city’s maximum one-hour rainfall rate between 8 and 9Z July 20 (4-5 p.m. local time) was a staggering 201.9 mm/hr (7.95 inches/hr). This amount shattered China’s national record for highest one-hour rainfall of 168.3 mm/hr (6.63 inches/hr) for all 2,418 national weather stations in mainland China, previously set at Maoming, Guangdong.
… ”Extreme rains in China expected to increase in warming climate.
”As the planet’s oceans and atmosphere warm more as a result of increased amounts of heat-trapping gases like carbon dioxide, more water vapor is entering the lower atmosphere, increasing the odds of extreme rainfall events.
“Studies using high-resolution global climate models have found that both average and extreme precipitation from China’s summer monsoon rains will increase during the 21st century.”
