Heavy downpours linked to global warming

Report shows rise in PA’s extreme rainstorms

"When It Rains It Pours," a recent PennEnvironment report shows that Pennsylvania is experiencing extreme rainstorms much more frequently, consistent with scientists’ predictions of what will happen as a result of global warming.

“At the rate we’re going, what was once the ‘storm of the decade’ will soon seem like just another downpour,” said Nathan Willcox, PennEnvironment energy and clean air advocate.

PennEnvironment’s report found that storms with heavy rainfall are happening 41 percent more frequently in Pennsylvania than they were 60 years ago. The findings back up scientists’ assertions that global warming is “loading the dice” when it comes to increasing the frequency of severe storms. One storm highlighted in the report hit eastern Pennsylvania during the summer of 2006, flooding hundreds of homes and numerous businesses in the greater Philadelphia area, and causing millions of dollars in damage.

“More frequent downpours, fueled by global warming, will leave Pennsylvania even more vulnerable to dangerous flooding in years to come,” said Willcox.
 
Nationally, the report shows that storms with extreme precipitation have increased in frequency by 24 percent across the United States since 1948.

Global warming solutions

While the report’s release helped to illustrate the many threats of global warming, PennEnvironment has also been working to implement global warming solutions at both the state and federal level. And because Pennsylvania creates more global warming pollution than every state but Texas and California, we have an important role to play in solving the problem.
 
PennEnvironment is calling on state officials to adopt a state-level global warming action plan. Specifically, we are urging Gov. Ed Rendell and legislators to adopt a proposal that implements available clean energy solutions and which sets science-based pollution reduction targets: at least 15 to 20 percent pollution cuts by 2020 and 80 percent pollution cuts by 2050.

“The severity of this problem is largely within our control—but only if we reduce the pollution that fuels global warming,” said Willcox.

Learn more.
 

Coal-fired power plants, such as the Conemaugh Generating Station in New Florence, contribute to Pennsylvania’s global warming pollution.