Nov 20, 2017
Increased rainfall volume from future convective storms in the US
by
,
Nature Climate Change
- States that mesoscale convective system (MCS)-organized convective storms with a size of ~100 km have increased in frequency and intensity in the USA over the past 35 years, causing fatalities and economic losses
- Uses a North American-scale convection-permitting model which is able to realistically simulate MSCs4 to investigate their change by the end-of-century under RCP8.5
- A storm-tracking algorithm indicates that intense summertime MCS frequency will more than triple in North America
- Finds that the the combined effect of a 15–40% increase in maximum precipitation rates and a significant spreading of regions impacted by heavy precipitation results in up to 80% increases in the total MCS precipitation volume, focused in a 40 km radius around the storm centre