Recent record-breaking rainfall across the northeastern United States is part of a larger trend. From Maine to West Virginia, the Northeast has seen an abrupt increase in extreme precipitation—heavy rain and snow resulting in about 1 to 2 inches of water in a day depending on location since 1996, which has coincided with warming sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic. Northeast extreme precipitation is typically caused by tropical cyclones, thunderstorms along fronts, and extratropical cyclones like Nor’easters. A recent study published in Weather and Climate Extremes finds that the increase in extreme precipitation after 1996 was caused by greenhouse gases from human activity and surface temperature variability of the North Atlantic Ocean, known as Atlantic variability.
Click here for original story, Increase in extreme precipitation in the northeast caused by Atlantic variability and climate change
Source: Phys.org