Maps

Observed change in very heavy precipitation (U.S.)

Percent changes in the amount of precipitation falling in very heavy events (the heaviest 1%) from 1958 to 2012 for each region. There is a clear national trend toward a greater amount of precipitation being concentrated in very heavy events, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest.

Credit: Global Change Information System, Observed change in very heavy precipitation, originally published in chapter 1 of the Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment report, 2014. (Figure source: updated from Karl et al. 2009)

Curated by Lea Rekow for BifrostOnline

Related

NASA | IPCC Projections of Temperature and Precipitation in the 21st Century

Climate models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimate global temperature and precipitation patterns will change throughout the 21st century given current rising greenhouse gas concentrations. This visualization is based on a scenario in which carbon dioxide concentrations reach 670 parts per million by 2100, up from around 400 ppm today.

What water security vulnerabilities in Canada concern you most as a scientist?

Hydrologist Robert Sandford discusses the links between rising temperatures and vulnerability of water systems in Western Canada.