HANOVER, N.H. (AP) - Dartmouth College researchers say intense rainfall events, like the one that led to flash flooding this week, have become more common in the last 20 years.
The Valley News reports (https://bit.ly/2sPOmhf) they analyzed rainfall data at 116 weather stations throughout the Northeast between 1901 and 2014. They found there was no increase from 1901 to 1995, but a big one from 1996 to 2014, with 53 percent more extreme precipitation.
Researcher Jonathan Winter says spring and fall downpours have seen about an 84 percent increase, while winter and summer have seen more moderate increases of 45 and 27 percent, respectively. The study was published in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Hydrometeorology last month.
Monday’s storm downed trees in the area of Brattleboro, Vermont, and there was a mudslide near Route 30. A Windham County weather station recorded 4.3 inches of rain.
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