![]() Warmer oceans increase the amount of water that evaporates into the air. What constitutes a period of heavy precipitation varies according to location and season.Ĭlimate change can affect the intensity and frequency of precipitation. "Heavy precipitation" refers to instances during which the amount of rain or snow experienced in a location substantially exceeds what is normal. ![]() 4 For more information on trends in overall precipitation levels, see the U.S. Figures 1 and 2 are both consistent with other studies that have found an increase in heavy precipitation over timeframes ranging from single days to seasons to years.For example, 1941 was extremely wet in the West, while 1982 was very wet nationwide. In some years there were no abnormally wet areas, while a few others had abnormally high precipitation totals over 10 percent or more of the contiguous 48 states’ land area (see Figure 2). There has been much year-to-year variability, however. The percentage of land area experiencing much greater than normal yearly precipitation totals increased between 18.Over the entire period from 1910 to 2020, the portion of the country experiencing extreme single-day precipitation events increased at a rate of about half a percentage point per decade (see Figure 1). The prevalence of extreme single-day precipitation events remained fairly steady between 1910 and the 1980s, but has risen substantially since then. ![]() Nine of the top 10 years for extreme one-day precipitation events have occurred since 1996 (see Figure 1). ![]()
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