Climate Change Responsible For Massive Increases in Torrential Downpours in The Gulf Coast

An article from the New York Times details the findings from a collection of scientists on the impact that climate change has had on the likelihood of Torrential downpours within the Gulf Coast. The article explains the process they underwent as having involved previous recordings of rainfall, and computer models that were used to create a model of the current climate. The researchers involved found that climate change has increased the likelihood severe rainfall in this region by at least 40%; although Heidi Cullen, the chief scientist for Climate Central, claims that it is much more likely that the initial probability has actually doubled due to climate change. The one thing that the researchers all agreed upon, however, is that Climate change has had a very real impact on the rainfall.

The increase in deluges has caused devastation along the Gulf Coast, especially in Louisiana. The article sites an instance in which a large storm stalled over the southern portion of Louisiana, dropping two feet of rain within 48 hours causing massive losses to homes and businesses, but also killing 13 people, leading people to site the event as the nation's worst natural disaster since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The Governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, anticipated the damage to cost around 9 billion dollars.

The new process of using these advanced models to compare rainfall from prior years has allowed climatologists to better link specific storms to climate change, and is being referred to as attribution studies. It allows the scientists to compare the likelihood of cataclysmic events before the massive output of carbon dioxide had afflicted our atmosphere, and now, after all that.

The scientists are also seeking to speed up the process of doing these studies, as it typically takes months to complete. The study of the storm in  Louisiana, for instance, was intended to detail the effects of climate change as soon as possible. World Weather Attribution, the research team which conducted this study, has started using previously run models in their own.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/science/global-warming-louisiana-flooding.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FWeather&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0