In this issue, we are going to wrap up our look at extreme rainfall by examining the different weather patterns that tend to be associated with these rainfall events.
Tag Archives extreme rainfall
Storm dynamics and extreme rainfall
Besides moisture, instability and orographic lift, the next biggest factor that contributes to heavy or extreme rainfall is storm dynamics.
Hotter atmosphere drives extreme rainfall
Three regions had extreme rainfall and flooding over the past few weeks across the globe. In northwest and north-central Africa, unusually persistent and heavy rains caused severe flooding in an area that is usually very dry. In fact, parts of the Sahara Desert and Sahel belt have seen significant rainfall. The second area of extreme […] Read more
How atmosphere affects extreme rainfall
In the last column, we discussed several factors that can result in extreme rainfall events. Let’s wrap up this topic by looking at different weather patterns that tend to be associated with these events and consider how changing weather patterns might contribute. Let’s first look at some of the rainfall records across southern and central […] Read more
Factors that contribute to heavy rainfall
Extreme rainfall events can be caused by one factor if it’s strong enough, but most times, it needs several factors to come together. The first factor is atmospheric moisture. For very extreme rainfall events, we need the atmospheric moisture to be deep; that is, a large portion of the atmosphere is moist. This deep moisture […] Read more
