Warming to make California downpours even wetter, study says
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
Published: January 19, 2023, 9:32am
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FILE - A pedestrian carries an umbrella while walking past a painting of an American flag in San Francisco, Jan. 11, 2023. A new study says the drenching that California has been getting since Christmas will only get wetter and nastier with climate change. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)Photo Gallery
As damaging as it was for more than 32 trillion gallons of rain and snow to fall on California since Christmas, a worst-case global warming scenario could juice up similar future downpours by one-third by the middle of this century, a new study says.
The strongest of California’s storms from atmospheric rivers, long and wide plumes of moisture that form over an ocean and flow through the sky over land, would probably get an overall 34% increase in total precipitation, or another 11 trillion gallons more than just fell.
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