Have you been caught in a record rain storm and flooding this summer? Chances are that most of us in the United States and Europe have experienced a heavier than normal rainfall. My travel this summer has brought me to see displaced people following storms (nothing like Louisiana or California). I have seen lakes created from heavy rain submerging homes, closed roads and bridges, yards with 20 uprooted trees, and experienced power outages.
What is going on with these storms? July 2016 was the hottest ever recorded since records started in 1880. As the earth warms, some places get dryer, but in other places the atmosphere is able to hold more moisture dumping larger amounts back to earth. Places in Louisiana received 31 inches of rain, unbelievable! I feel sad for everyone displaced from everything they own.
PBS had an interesting conversation about our weather extremes here. Is this all part of climate change?
There are consequences to our warming earth according to meteorologist Paul Douglas, “More moisture in the air, higher dew points and heat indexes, more thousand-year rains, wet basements with greater regularity, and more expensive insurance policies.”
Health4earth 