Report: Global Warming Is "Wreaking Havoc" With Water Cycle; Daily Rainfall Records Set 52% More Often Than In 2000
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The 2024 Global Water Monitor Report was produced by an international team of researchers from universities in Australia, Saudi Arabia, China, Germany and elsewhere. The team used data from thousands of ground stations and satellites orbiting the Earth to assess critical water variables such as rainfall, soil moisture, river flows, and flooding.
They found rainfall records are being broken with increasing regularity. For example, record highs for monthly rainfall were set 27% more often in 2024 than in the year 2000 and daily rainfall records were set 52% more frequently. Record lows were set 38% more often. “So we are seeing worse extremes on both sides,” said Van Dijk.
In southern China from May to July, the Yangtze and Pearl rivers flooded cities and towns, displacing tens of thousands of people and causing hundreds of millions of dollars of damage to crops. The river floods in Bangladesh in August after heavy monsoon rains affected almost 6 million people and destroyed at least a million tonnes of rice. Meanwhile, in Spain in October more than 500mm of rain fell in eight hours, causing deadly flash floods. The city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, was inundated with two months’ worth of rain in just three days in May, transforming roads into rivers.
“Heavy rainfall events also caused widespread flash flooding in Afghanistan and Pakistan, killing more than 1,000 people,” Van Dijk said. The flooding also displaced 1.5 million people. In the Amazon, drought struck. “Wildfires driven by the hot and dry weather burned through more than 52,000 sq km in September alone, releasing vast amounts of greenhouse gases,” Van Dijk said. “From historic droughts to catastrophic floods, these extreme events impact lives, livelihoods, and entire ecosystems.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/06/climate-crisis-wreaking-havoc-on-earths-water-cycle-report-finds
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