Global Warming and Increasing Levels of Precipitation

From Yale Climate Connections:

The Southwest is the only region experiencing a decrease in heavy precipitation events. But even there, the intensity of rainfall during the region’s monsoon season has increased since the 1960s, according to a study in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Why?  As we remember from our childhoods, warm air can carry more water vapor than cold air.  That means there’s more water in our skies than there was before industrial times.

Due to greenhouse gas emissions, the average temperature of the U.S. has warmed by 1 degree Celsius, and thus we have more evaporation = more water = more rain (and snow).

As shown in the graphic below, California is among the few states that’s actually drier than it was in the past.  In fact, our water levels haven’t been lower at any time in the past four decades.  Experts predict even more wildfires.

Remarkably, about half of all Americans say they don’t believe they will experience the effects of climate change in their lifetimes.  That’s pathetic.