Heavy rains and flooding could have the fingerprints of climate change
James Bruggers
It was just last year when a new report from the Army Corps of Engineers warned that climate change would push the Ohio River and its tributaries into uncharted waters, setting off economic and environmental crises like never before across a 13-state region.
Flooding, drought and power failures in the decades to come could become more frequent in Kentucky and Indiana — and the rest of the Ohio River basin, the report out of the Department of Defense concluded.
Read more on this: Army engineers warn of brutal future for Ohio River region from climate change
So it may be natural to wonder whether there are any fingerprints of climate change on February's record-setting rainfall for Louisville. Or the rising of the Ohio River to its highest level in 20 years.
Without some kind of "attribution" study, that's hard to say.
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Many scientists will say the fingerprints of climate change are found all over weather these days. The atmosphere in our warmer world contains more moisture, and that's producing storms that drop more rain, said Scott Denning, a professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University who has dozens of peer-reviewed publications under his belt.
"There's no way you can say this (rain event and flooding) would not have happened were it not for climate change," Denning said, who did not participate in the Army study.
But he added: "The statistics of storm events (in the Ohio River Valley) are changing, and those statistics show the frequency of heavy rain has increased a lot."
That means communities have to adapt, he said.
James Bruggers: 502-582-4645; jbruggers@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @jbruggers; Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jamesb.