(Spencer)– A sobering warning from the Director of the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa. Dr. Larry Weber says those of us living in the upper Midwest need to be better prepared for the impacts of extreme shifts in weather patterns stemming from climate change. He says both the intensity and severity of drought and flood events is likely to increase further…
“The National Climate Assessment Report has been published and indicates that this region of the country should expect a 10 percent increase in the five percent rainiest days by 2050 and a 20 percent increase in the five percent rainiest days by 2100. So break that down, again the five percent rainiest day would be a five inch rain in 24 hours. So that five inch rain is going to become 5.5 inches by 2050 and that five inch rain is going to become six inches by 2100. Because our soils have the ability to absorb about two inches of rain in the first 24 hours; a five inch rain produces a three inch run-off and by 2100 that six inch rain will produce a four inch run-off. So a 20 percent increase in rainfall is going to result in a 33 percent increase in extreme flood.”
Dr. Weber was a panelist at a public informational meeting last (Tues.) evening in Spencer on the flood that ravaged northwest Iowa this past June.
