Strong summer rainfall may become more frequent and severe due to global warming, due to global warming.
In this case, temperatures rise by two degrees Celsius (about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and the Alps and nearby areas may experience intense summer rainfall attacks, twice as much as they are currently, the researchers said.
The Swiss University collaborated with the University of Padua in Italy to conduct the research.
“Hot air can hold more moisture (about 7% higher per degree), which exacerbates storm activity,” the researchers said.
“As the alpine environment warms faster than the global average, it has been particularly affected,” they added.
The study used summer rainfall data collected from nearly 300 weather stations in the European Alps in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, France and Italy.
They focus on record rainfall events – which last from 10 minutes to an hour between 1991 and 2020, as well as the temperature associated with these events.
“The sudden arrival of large quantities of water can exceed the soil’s absorption capacity, which can “trigger flash flooding and debris flows, causing damage to the infrastructure,” said Unil researcher Nadav Peleg.
Researchers recommend “prepare urban water management systems and other infrastructure that are not suitable for handling large amounts of rainfall.”
They added that “rapid updates to engineering and urban planning standards” would help mitigate potential risks associated with these events, while also stressing the need to “limit global warming to levels above 1.5C or above or below or above than current levels”.
According to scientists at the UN Climate Change IPCC, the average chance of global temperature rise will reach 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030-2035.
“We are already observing the trend of summer storms and expect this trend to worsen,” said Francesco Marra, a researcher at the University of Padua and co-author of the study.
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