"Intense rainfalls are getting bigger and more frequent, causing local governments, engineers and landowners to rethink whether sewer systems and other drainage features are up to their tasks."
"The storm water filtration pond near Cedar Lake in Minneapolis, for instance, needed to be cleaned out six years after it was built, instead of the 25 years designers expected.
'I'm just a guy at the end of the rainfall who has to deal with it,' said Brian Wilson, a storm water policy analyst with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. 'It really got my attention because these big storms seem to just be rolling through more and more frequently.'
Researchers point directly at a warming climate as the cause. Warmer air holds more water vapor, and a longer storm season means intense storms can occur more frequently in what once were regarded as the off-seasons, said Jay Lawrimore, a climate scientist with the center. As more northerly latitudes have warmed, the storm-producing clashes between warm and cold air masses have moved northward as well, a key reason why the Upper Midwest has seen a steep increase in extreme precipitation, Lawrimore said."
Bill McAuliffe reports for the Minneapolis Star Tribune March 23, 2012.
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