By the end of the 21st century some parts of the world could experience 30 more rainless days a year.
New research suggests man-made global warming will cause areas that are already prone to dry conditions to experience precipitation in shorter windows of time, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography news release reported.
Researchers looked at computer model projections, and determined areas such as " the Amazon, Central America, Indonesia, and all Mediterranean climate regions" will see an increase in "dry days" as the century progresses. These regions will experience an average of 30 more rainless days every year while places such as California will experience around 10.
"Changes in intensity of precipitation events and duration of intervals between those events will have direct effects on vegetation and soil moisture,"Stephen Jackson, director of the U.S. Department of the Interior Southwest Climate Science Center, said in the news release "[Study lead author Suraj] Polade and colleagues provide analyses that will be of considerable value to natural resource managers in climate adaptation and planning. Their study represents an important milestone in improving ecological and hydrological forecasting under climate change."
The research team was able to agree the amount of dry days would increase in these regions, they were less sure about how much rain or snow would fall on days of precipitation.
"Looking at changes in the number of dry days per year is a new way of understanding how climate change will affect us that goes beyond just annual or seasonal mean precipitation changes, and allows us to better adapt to and mitigate the impacts of local hydrological changes," Polade, a postdoctoral researcher, said in the news release.
Typically dry regions like the American Southwest that typically only see a few storms per year will see the greatest variations in precipitation. Regions of the world that are typically wet could see an increase in precipitation.
"These profound and clearly projected changes make physical and statistical sense, but they are invisible when looking at long-term trends in average climate projections," researcher Alexander Gershunov said in the news release.
The researchers hope to conduct follow-up studies to further back up their findings.
"Climate models have improved greatly in the last 10 years, which allows us to look in detail at the simulation of daily weather rather than just monthly averages," researcher David Pierce said in the news release.
