Huge parts of Europe and the US have been grappling withrecord - breaking heatwavesthis summertime . However , as the heat commence to loosen its grasp , many areas could soon be faced with another atmospheric condition suffering : flash flooding .
overflow and drouth are two sides of the same coin . In drought - prone areas , it ’s often not strange to also see flooding at dissimilar points of the year . This is because dry and bake red-hot weather can cause soil to indurate , making it tougher for water to drain through . This makes the dry land prostrate to flash implosion therapy if it does take in a sudden pelter of rainfall .
This point was attractively exemplify bya recent video on Twitterthat went viral last workweek ( below ) . Dr Rob Thompson , a meteorologist from the University of Reading in the UK , carried out a playfulness experiment using three upside glasses of water on unlike grass surfaces – wet grass , normal summertime , and after a high temperature wave – and observed how rapidly each drained .
The glass on the tight sess quickly glugged down , while the grass you ’d typically see during a “ normal ” summer slowly but surely drain . However , the baked Gunter Grass after a heatwave barely allow any water through at all .
If you want to see how this might look in the real earthly concern , then look no further than Death Valley(video below ) , the disk - holder for the high breeze temperature ever recorded on the major planet . Earlier this calendar month , the Furnace Creek region of Death Valley National Parkreportedaround 3.71 cm ( 1.46 inches ) of rainwater in less than three 60 minutes – about 75 pct of what that region typically receives in an integral year .
The result was dramatic flooding , swamped roads , and widespread body of water damage .
" The hard rain that caused the withering flooding at Death Valley was an exceedingly rarified , 1000 - year consequence , ” Daniel Berc , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Las Vegas , said in astatement . “ A 1000 - year issue does n’t intend it happens once per 1000 old age , rather that there is a 0.1 % chance of occurring in any given year . "
Death Valley is a place of extreme , so we should n’t await all parched theatrical role of the planet to see this plate of flash flooding . However , it ’s clear that mood modification is potential to make drought and flash implosion therapy all the more likely and even more spartan in years to arrive .
“ Human do heating of climate is heighten the global water cycle and disrupting weather patterns lead to more austere droughts but also more serious implosion therapy events across the globe,”saidProfessor Richard Allan , a mood scientist at the University of Reading , commenting about the current drought in the UK .
