Rain storms are increasingly drenching New York and global warming is to blame. That’s the crux of a report released this morning by the state Attorney General’s Office. It says that the entire state is experiencing heavier rain storms more often. But that conclusion shouldn’t come as a shock, since climate scientists have been warning as much for years.
The AG’s Office report includes an analysis, sourced from the 2014 National Climate Assessment, laying out one pattern. According to the report, states in the Northeast saw a 71 percent increase in the amount of water that fell during the heaviest 1 percent of “precipitation events” between 1958 and 2012.
The report also says that there are fewer years between the heaviest of storms and that the intervals will become shorter if global carbon emissions aren’t rapidly and drastically reduced.
But the report isn’t a scientific document, per se. A press release from the office of Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says that the report is meant to stress “the need to focus on greater resiliency planning and response measures for our infrastructure, neighborhoods and landscape in order to promote a safer and more sustainable New York.”
The Rochester and Finger Lakes regions experienced the damage that strong rain storms can cause a few times this summer. In July, heavy rains wiped out sections of road in some Ontario and Livingston County towns. And in May, flooding caused millions of dollars of damage in Penn Yan.
The report concludes with a call for the state to continue taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; for communities to consider patterns of extreme precipitation in their planning efforts and construction projects; and for state officials to work on national and international efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This article appears in Sep 3-9, 2014.
Exceptional report by NYS AG connecting the dots between NY’s heavy rainfall, Climate Change, and the need to adapt.
What is not exception about this report: it states what Climate Change studies have been saying about how Climate Change is already affecting us—and what needs to be done.
What is exception is that an office as important as the New York State Attorney General says that it agrees with the climate studies. What is even more exceptional is that only a few media (like Rochester City Newspaper) have even mentioned the AG’s press release and the posted the study: “Current And Future Trends In Extreme Rainfall Across New York State”. http://www.ag.ny.gov/pdfs/Extreme_Precipit…
Although only a few of our state (or anywhere else for that matter) leaders have stepped up to the plate and described to the media (and thus the public) exactly what is a stake in New York State as Climate Change gets worse, none of our leaders—mayors, environmental authorities, county executives, and have the luxury of climate denial.
Our leaders are the ones that are obligated to inform the public of clean and present dangers and do something about it. We are long past the time for comprehensive Climate Change messaging throughout our state in the media about the kinds of changes we should expect and the level of adaptation we will have to marshal to accomplish that. Climate Change is not a special interest issues, it is an issue special to all of us—even those who don’t believe in science.
More on Climate Change in our area: http://rochesterenvironment.com/weather&cl…