5 ms·

Is the amount of rainfall across the world constant? If so, are there places getting above average rainfall.

simonsarris 4y ago
Generally, global rainfall has been increasing for over 100 years. From epa.gov: > Since 1901, global precipitation has increased at an average rate of 0.04 inches per decade, while precipitation in the contiguous 48 states has increased at a rate of 0.20 inches per decade. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-and-global-precipitation https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica... Broadly speaking, most climate change theories would suggest a wetter world, not a dryer one. Of course locally conditions might be very very different. The southwestern USA is trending dryer. The northeastern USA is trending wetter. Similarly (last I looked and I haven't looked much at European trends), precipitation is expected to increase in northern Europe and decline in southern Europe. If you live in the United States you may also be interested in the drought changes over time, and where those droughts/excess wet are happening: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-drought https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica...
- nerdponx 4y ago
  > Broadly speaking, most climate change theories would suggest a wetter world, not a dryer one. Of course locally conditions might be very very different. The southwestern USA is trending dryer. The northeastern USA is trending wetter. Trend or not, the northeastern USA is also experiencing a drought currently. But the last couple of summers have been fairly cool and wet. Maybe we just got unlucky with this one (weather), or maybe pinballing between drought and wet is the new normal (climate) and agriculture here needs to adapt to that.
  - simonsarris 4y ago
    Yes I'm in New Hampshire in that very unfun drought right now. But droughts like this were the norm. Now they're more rare. On drought.gov if you scroll below the map and click 1895 - Present in the graph at the bottom of the page, you'll see just how common droughts in NH used to be compared to the much high "abnormally wet" conditions of today. https://www.drought.gov/states/new-hampshire https://www.drought.gov/states/new-hampshire try clicking D3 / W3 or D4 / W4 also to get a good picture of how it's changed. Post 2000's NH has had the most extreme wet and the least extreme drought of any time period (except maybe the 1970's)
andsoitis 4y ago
The world is becoming both drier and wetter; it depends on where you live: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/24/climate/warmer-wetter-world.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/24/climate/warme...
bamboozled 4y ago
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1115378385/tonga-volcano-stratosphere-water-warming https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1115378385/tonga-volcano-stra... Also this: The recent eruption in Tonga has apparently had unusual effects on water in the atmosphere. Has this affected the situation in Europe? I'd love to know. Japan also skipped a monsoon season this year.
gniv 4y ago
Yes, South Korea: https://twitter.com/koryodynasty/status/1556620987814522882 https://twitter.com/koryodynasty/status/1556620987814522882 (this is in jest ofc)
unethical_ban 4y ago
If one person's house floods because everyone else's water got cut in order to flood it, nothing is fine due to the same amount of water being used.

Generally, global rainfall has been increasing for over 100 years. From epa.gov: > Since 1901, global precipitation has increased at an average rate of 0.04 inches per decade, while precipitation in the contiguous 48 states has increased at a rate of 0.20 inches per decade. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-and-global-precipitation https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica... Broadly speaking, most climate change theories would suggest a wetter world, not a dryer one. Of course locally conditions might be very very different. The southwestern USA is trending dryer. The northeastern USA is trending wetter. Similarly (last I looked and I haven't looked much at European trends), precipitation is expected to increase in northern Europe and decline in southern Europe. If you live in the United States you may also be interested in the drought changes over time, and where those droughts/excess wet are happening: https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-drought https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indica...

nerdponx 4y ago
> Broadly speaking, most climate change theories would suggest a wetter world, not a dryer one. Of course locally conditions might be very very different. The southwestern USA is trending dryer. The northeastern USA is trending wetter. Trend or not, the northeastern USA is also experiencing a drought currently. But the last couple of summers have been fairly cool and wet. Maybe we just got unlucky with this one (weather), or maybe pinballing between drought and wet is the new normal (climate) and agriculture here needs to adapt to that.
- simonsarris 4y ago
  Yes I'm in New Hampshire in that very unfun drought right now. But droughts like this were the norm. Now they're more rare. On drought.gov if you scroll below the map and click 1895 - Present in the graph at the bottom of the page, you'll see just how common droughts in NH used to be compared to the much high "abnormally wet" conditions of today. https://www.drought.gov/states/new-hampshire https://www.drought.gov/states/new-hampshire try clicking D3 / W3 or D4 / W4 also to get a good picture of how it's changed. Post 2000's NH has had the most extreme wet and the least extreme drought of any time period (except maybe the 1970's)

andsoitis 4y ago

The world is becoming both drier and wetter; it depends on where you live: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/24/climate/warmer-wetter-world.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/24/climate/warme...

bamboozled 4y ago

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1115378385/tonga-volcano-stratosphere-water-warming https://www.npr.org/2022/08/03/1115378385/tonga-volcano-stra... Also this: The recent eruption in Tonga has apparently had unusual effects on water in the atmosphere. Has this affected the situation in Europe? I'd love to know. Japan also skipped a monsoon season this year.

gniv 4y ago

Yes, South Korea: https://twitter.com/koryodynasty/status/1556620987814522882 https://twitter.com/koryodynasty/status/1556620987814522882 (this is in jest ofc)

unethical_ban 4y ago

If one person's house floods because everyone else's water got cut in order to flood it, nothing is fine due to the same amount of water being used.