Welcome into this week's edition
of the Climate Friday newslette.
Hope you had a happy 4th of
July and a great week. Now.
You may have heard the saying,
when it rains it pours.
This is true of life and
of the weather sometimes.
And in the last week we have sen
our fair share of heavy downpous
and also some thunderstorms.
So in this week's Climate Frida,
we're going to talk about the origins
of these downpours and how clime
change may be making heavy raine
common and also those downpours more intense,
and what you can expect in the weeks,
months and even years to come.
Let's delve into the science he,
talking about when it rains,
it pours and breaking down some
of our recent heavy rainfall.
And also how climate change
may be exacerbating heavy rain.
Now the heaviest of the rain
did not impact the Toledo Metro.
In fact, Toledo Express Airport
really got the short end of the stick,
so to speak,
only about half an inch of rain
throughout the entire weekend.
And it's hard to believe with
all that heat and humidity,
only that much rain fell in Tol.
Now some spots got much,
much heavier downpours.
I want to show you rainfall reps
over the course of the weekend
leading up to the 4th of July.
The purple colors you see on this map,
those are the heaviest rainfall
totals you notice.
Far eastern Lucas County,
northern Ottawa County got dren.
Also to the West of Toledo,
parts of southern Fulton County,
northern Henry County and
Defiance County got the brunt of
some of those heavy downpours.
Let's look at the Toledo Metro.
The rainfall was highly variabln
where you live and some of the heaviest
rain impacted areas closer to Lake Erie,
shown by that bright purple col.
However,
folks on the western tier of Lucas County
didn't see nearly as much rainf.
Here's a closer look at the Tolo
Metro and how much rain fell
over the course of the weekend.
Folks near Walbridge and Perrysg
saw nearly three inches of rain,
incredibly torrential rain as a
result of some of those downpours and
thunderstorms also to the northf
Clay Center and east of Oregon radars,
indicating,
get this up to 4 1/2 inches of rainfall
shown by some of those torrential downpours.
And we had some severe weather
over the weekend in this spot.
And in fact there was a tornado warning
that produced not only some rotation,
but also some very,
very heavy rain.
What about the rest of the Toledo Metro?
Still something to write home a.
South of Ottawa hills picked up
nearly 2.4 inches of rainfall
and up near Sylvania rainfall
amounts were closer to 1 inch.
What about some of our western
counties between Waseon and Napoleon?
Very,
very heavy rain impacted and the one take
away point from this map is whe.
Rains at pours.
We got some very heavy rain,
but also some folks didn't see quite as much.
Here's how much heavy rain fell to the north
of Liberty Center and north of Napoleon,
3 to 4 inches as determined by r
and looking a bit further to the West.
We also got some very heavy rain
portions of Putnam County, 2 1/2 inches,
Hillsdale County around 2 inches
and even portions of Seneca Couy
got up to three inches of rain.
There was one downpour just to e
northwest of the city of Tiffin.
So how is climate change making
these heavy downpours worse,
more common and more intense?
Well, we're seeing warmer temperatures,
is no secret.
By now our temperatures are warg
during all 12 months out of the year,
especially during the rainy sea.
We're seeing heavier downpours
because that provides fuel.
And more evaporation.
In other words,
there's more water in the clouds
and more moisture to work with.
Not only are we seeing
the hotter temperatures,
but also the oceans and lakes are getting
warmer and that could potentialy
have a local impact on us as Lake Erie
surface temperature continue to rise,
and that may provide more
evaporation and thus fuel for r.
Of course,
with those hotter temperatures,
more moisture comes in off the bodies
of water and more moisture is leached
from the soil up into the cloud.
And when there's more water in the clouds,
there's more water that gets rained on us,
and that can cause more
of a flooding concern.
So how has rainfall changed
due to climate change?
Some studies have looked at rail
since the 1970s at a number of g
metropolitan cities across the country.
90% of cities studied saw
an increase in rain.
That means the vast majority seeing this
trend that climate change has confirmed.
What about some local and
Midwestern cities since the 195?
One study looked at some cities,
including Cincinnati and Columb.
Each of which saw a vast increae
in rainfall. Detroit and Toledo.
Yes,
the rainfall did increase by
about 44 and 50% respectively,
but that pales in comparison to Cincinnati
that saw a 137% increase in rainfall.
Again,
that data goes back to the 1950.
Again, the mechanism for this
as temperature increases,
we are seeing more available wa.
And it's not necessarily just
a linear relationship,
but you'll notice that line sho.
Up at an exponential rate,
more evaporation leads to more
precipitation and for everyone
degree increase in temperature,
there is a 4% increase in available water.
So as the Earth's surface contis
to warm up due to climate chang,
the amount of moisture is goingo
increase at an exponential rate.
And that is a trend in our rain,
not only in terms of total rain,
but rainfall rate.
Remember, when it rains, it pou.
Rainfall rate is a measure of how much
rain falls in a certain period of time.
In this particular graphic,
the unit is hundredths of an
inch and we are seeing rainfall
rates that are vastly
greater than they were back in .
That upward trend on the green line shows
your rainfall rates that are increasing.
Not only are we seeing more total rain,
but when it does rain,
it's coming down heavier.
And that is a trend that is liky
impacted you here in the Midwesd
has an especially impact on farmers and
gardeners who can see more floog
as a result of those rainfall r.
Downpours are increasing and ths
especially noticeable across the Midwest.
Midwest more downpours across the Great
Lakes in the Midwest over towards the
Mid-Atlantic region In the Southeast,
the rainfall has increased as w.
And in the desert Southwest,
there's been a very,
very slight increase in rainfal.
But the impacts of climate chane
are not necessarily ubiquitous,
as the Great Lakes have seen the brunt
of that increase in precipitati.
Now, even with those downpours,
we're seeing more extremes and
fluctuations due to climate cha.
And much of the region still
under drought conditions,
folks out West,
including portions of Northwest
Indiana and Illinois really undr
severe drought right now and that has
impacted Midwestern farmers this season.
What about us here at home?
Moderate drought conditions pre.
The latest Drought Monitor is
updated each and every week.
So we'll continue to update you
with the latest data on WTOL 11,
but the overall trend is areas southeast.
Haven't seen it quite as bad of a drought,
but areas right along I-75 and
closer to that Indiana,
Ohio State line there is a modee
drought in effect now far northwest of US
clipping Hillsdale and Williams counties.
This is what we call a severe drought
that goes in towards the Indian,
Michigan State line.
And that is where rainfall was
desperately needed and we did
get some rainfall this week.
The latest drought outlook will be telling
to see how those downpours were helpful.
But certainly flood concern is one thing that
is going up as a result of climate change.
Remember, when it rains,
it pours and we're seeing not oy
an increase in overall rainfall,
but also those rainfall rates
increasing exponentially.
Whatever Mother Nature has in se
for the rest of the summer seas,
the WTOL 11 weather team will
keep you updated.
Subscribe at wtol.com/email.
And you can see the latest
Climate Friday on YouTube,
WTOL 11 Plus and online.