CA Storms Affected by Climate Change
Atmospheric rivers, also referred to as rivers in the sky, have the capacity to unleash severe storms by drawing moisture from tropical regions and transferring it to other latitudes. They are observed to be able to carry a quantity of water vapor that is comparable to the average flow at the Mississippi River's mouth and can be up to 1,600 miles long and up to 350 miles wide.
The storms battering Northern California were atmospheric rivers, and according to experts, it will only get worse as climate change progresses. While not all atmospheric rivers wreak havoc, it has cost the West Coast of the United States 80% of flood damage and $1.1 billion (approx.) financial loss yearly, and a potential increase to $3.2 billion in yearly losses by 2090 if climate change continues to spike. Water from water sources evaporates as global warming heats the atmosphere. This increases air moisture and triggers the potential for more aggressive atmospheric rivers.
"Given the changes that have already happened in the climate, we will see an increase in intensity in atmospheric rivers over the coming decades," said Tom Corringham, a research economist at the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
The Sierra Nevada Mountains, Northern California, and Southern Oregon are some of the regions where more damage may occur as a result of atmospheric rivers and climate change, added Corringham.
The National Weather Service deduces that these intense storms could result in more widespread floods, washed-out highways, hillside collapses, downed trees, significant power outages, "immediate disruption to commerce, and the worst of all, likely loss of human life."
Image source: CNN
A protracted megadrought brought on by climate change has depleted the state's reservoirs and left the state in an intensely dry trend. At such a time, these storms offer what the state is desperately in need of— water. But it may not be sufficient to make up for the yearslong shortfalls the persistent drought has accrued, according to climate scientist Daniel Swain of the University of California, Los Angeles.
The sudden shifts in dry spells and excessive downpours may happen more frequently and grow more powerful with the planet getting hotter without brakes. Scientists believe that if people continue to emit planet-warming gasses, the likelihood of weather whiplashes occurring in California would increase exponentially.
