Floods, Not Winds: Plodding, Drenching Debby Another Example Of A New Generation Of Tropical Storms

Tropical Storm Debby, a plodding, waterlogged system that has already saturated four southeastern states, bears many characteristics of a warming planet, climate scientists say. It’s reminiscent of other catastrophic tropical cyclones that have battered the United States over the past eight years. On Wednesday afternoon, the storm was drifting at 5 mph near the South Carolina coast, about the pace of a monarch butterfly. It is expected to pick up speed today as it heads through North Carolina, where a foot or more of rain could fall in the southeastern part of the state and 6 to 8 inches are anticipated in the central Piedmont.

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A warmer atmosphere holds more water; likewise, warmer temperatures accelerate evaporation. “There’s a lot of water in this system that’s just ready to come out,” North Carolina’s state climatologist, Kathie Dello, said. “We’re pulling more of that moisture into the air and essentially supercharging the atmosphere. Or, as I like to say, get a cup of coffee and pour in a few shots of espresso.” Tropical Storm Debby has arrived in what is on track to be one of the top 10 warmest years on record in North Carolina. As recently as late June, 99 of the state’s 100 counties were experiencing drought conditions ranging from abnormally dry to severe, according to the State Climate Office.

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Tropical Storm Debby is reminiscent of two historic hurricanes that hit North Carolina—Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018. Although both were Category 1 storms, they caused disproportionate damage because they stalled over land and dumped historic amounts of rain—as much as 3 feet—in eastern North Carolina. Thousands of people were left homeless and damages totaled in the billions of dollars. Tropical storms and hurricanes are producing heavier rain over the U.S., an indicator of climate change, according to a study published last month in the Journal of Climate, a publication of the American Meteorological Society.

John Uehling co-authored the paper with Carl Schreck III, both of whom are scientists at the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies. Uehling told Inside Climate News that Tropical Storm Debby is “a classic case of what we’ve seen a lot in recent years,” including with Hurricanes Harvey and Florence, “where we have a stalling storm near the coastline that basically dumps rain over the same areas for an extended and prolonged period of time.”

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08082024/debby-drenched-southeast-climate-change-wetter-storms/