Rain: a matter of life and death
Her winds diminshed but her capacity to carry water enhanced, Hurricane Helene smashed into the Blue Ridge mountaintops above Asheville, NC. There she dropped nearly 4 feet of water. Had it been been snow, it would have reached the roof of a four-story building.
The recent plague of floods is directly linked to climate change, which is directly linked back to us and how our actions have warmed the planet. Hurricanes gather about 7% more water vapor in saturated air for every 1°C of ocean warming. That dry statistic is translating before our eyes into the devastating storms that are drowning people and other animals, crops, and whole communities around the world.
For an exquisite essay onthe topic of rain, read Jason Anthony here.
And in a concise, devastating essay, Bill McKibbon explores how recent floods, as well as concomitant droughts, intersect the political landscape.
If I might add some thermodynamics: In addition to contributing additional rainwater, warming ocean surfaces also intensify hurricanes and other cyclonic storms. In 1988, Prof. Kerry Emanuel of MIT published a paper showing how the storms behave like Carnot heat engines driven by the temperature difference between the warm ocean surface and the cool upper atmosphere, just as the temp. diff. between the hot boiler and cool condenser drives a steam engine or turbine. Thus, climate change is making hurricane winds more intense, in addition to increasing rainfall.
Such an important article,and so scary. I do wonder how my grandchildren will manage. I think I will be out of it soon,and for that I am thankful!