Climate Change Porn – 12: The Rain in White Rock

May 5, 2014, New York Times:

“Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” the scientists declared in a major new report (National Climate Assessment) assessing the situation in the United States.

“Summers are longer and hotter, and extended periods of unusual heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced,” the report continued. “Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours. People are seeing changes in the length and severity of seasonal allergies, the plant varieties that thrive in their gardens, and the kinds of birds they see in any particular month in their neighborhoods.”

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May 4, 2014,Vancouver Sun:

Rob Costanzo, Surrey’s director of operations, said the South Surrey/White Rock area saw 91.6 millimeters over the weekend.

“It was a huge amount of rainfall,” he said, noting the area usually sees 65 to 70 millimetre for the entire month of May.

“It was a one-in-100-year event, the intensity of rain that hit,” Costanzo said.

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May 5, 2014, New York Times:

One of the report’s most dramatic findings concerned the rising frequency of torrential rains. Scientists have expected this effect for decades because more water is evaporating from a warming ocean surface, and the warmer atmosphere can hold the excess vapor, which then falls as rain or snow. But even the leading experts have been surprised by the magnitude of the effect.