Latest news with #Atlas15
Time of India
4 days ago
- Climate
- Time of India
Reasons, safety tips, key pointers as US faces deadly floods from Texas to New York
This year's flood and rainfall, and specifically July 2025 have delivered a grim preview of a future shaped by climate-driven weather extremes. In just two weeks, extreme rainfall has triggered deadly flooding from Texas to New Jersey, and the skies aren't clearing yet. At least 134 people have died and over 100 remain missing after rivers like the Guadalupe in Texas rose by 8 meters in just one hour. Subway stations in New York were inundated. A tropical depression dumped nearly a foot of rain on parts of North Carolina in a single day, leaving six more dead. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Select a Course Category Artificial Intelligence PGDM Degree Project Management MBA MCA Product Management CXO Leadership Operations Management healthcare Cybersecurity others Healthcare Data Science Management Public Policy Finance Digital Marketing Technology Data Analytics Data Science Design Thinking Others Skills you'll gain: Duration: 7 Months S P Jain Institute of Management and Research CERT-SPJIMR Exec Cert Prog in AI for Biz India Starts on undefined Get Details 'This is not just a Texas problem. This is a climate problem,' says Dr. Joellen Russell, an oceanographer and climate modeler at the University of Arizona. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Victoria Principal Is Almost 75, See Her Now The Latest Article Undo Why it's happening Scientists say the underlying cause is simple physics. A hotter atmosphere holds more water, about 6 percent more for every 1°C rise in temperature, and is now unloading it in more intense bursts. Live Events Data from the US Fifth National Climate Assessment confirms that extreme precipitation has increased by nearly 60 percent in the Northeast from 1958 to 2021, a trend only expected to worsen. 'Too much, too fast, that's the issue,' says Russell. 'No landscape, no matter how dry or prepared, can contain that volume of water.' Oceans remain a crucial factor Behind the scenes, the warming Gulf of Mexico plays a major role. According to Russell, the ocean has absorbed more than 90 percent of excess planetary heat from greenhouse gases, and that heat is now fueling rainfall. 'The Gulf is almost 2°C hotter than usual,' she says. 'That warm water feeds storms, making them wetter, slower, and more destructive.' Not just the US The disaster isn't isolated. Flash floods have hit Mexico, Pakistan, and Nigeria in recent weeks, as global heat waves warm air and water alike. With the US Commerce Department suspending the long-anticipated Atlas 15 rainfall data update, experts warn the country is flying blind into a wetter, more dangerous future. Infrastructure under strain Aging bridges, roads, and stormwater systems across America were never built for this level of stress. FEMA's flood maps, based on outdated rainfall data, are increasingly unreliable. 'The term '100-year flood' no longer means what we think,' Russell says. 'We're still using old baselines in a new climate era.' What can you do to stay safe? With climate extremes now a part of everyday life, Russell urges the public to take basic steps: Enable local emergency alerts on phones, especially NOAA warnings. Know your flood zone and evacuation routes. Create a 'go bag' with essentials in case of rapid evacuation. Form a communication plan with family, including pet arrangements. FAQs Is this level of flooding unusual? Yes. July 2025 is already breaking records for flood-related fatalities and rainfall intensity in several states. What areas are most at risk? The Gulf Coast, Northeast, and parts of the Midwest, especially those near rivers, coasts, or wildfire burn scars, are vulnerable. Will these storms keep happening? Most likely, yes. With warming oceans and atmosphere, intense, slow-moving, and rain-heavy storms will become more frequent.
CNN
5 days ago
- Science
- CNN
Trump admin to proceed with groundbreaking flash flood risk database, reversing course after media reports
The Trump administration has changed course and is moving ahead with work to develop a new database that would provide Americans with precise estimates of their flash flood risk in a warming world, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official and an internal NOAA email seen by CNN that was sent Friday morning. The administration had paused work on the portion of the database, known as Atlas 15, that is designed to show how a warming world is amplifying flood risks. The database would be the first such resource to take this into account and would have applications for everyone from civil engineers to prospective homeowners. After reporting by CNN and the Washington Post this week and following discussions between NOAA leadership and Commerce Department officials, NOAA received permission to move forward with both parts of the analysis through fiscal year 2026, the official said. As CNN previously reported, the pause came during a summer of deadly flash floods, including the disastrous flash flood event in Texas on the night of July 4 that killed at least 130 people. CNN has contacted NOAA for comment. Prev Next Atlas 15 would replace the outdated database of precipitation frequency estimates, known as Atlas 14, that does not take climate change to date into account, let alone future warming. Global warming is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme precipitation events, yet US infrastructure is currently designed based on Atlas 14's outdated information about the size and frequency of 100-year precipitation events. In other words, designers and builders of infrastructure in this country conduct their work with the notion that the worst rainfall events are occurring less frequently and are less severe than they are. The first phase of Atlas 15 updates the precipitation frequency estimates across the country but does not include climate change projections. That volume is slated to come out later this year and had not hit roadblocks. The second phase of Atlas 15, whose contracts were paused until Friday, is slated to come out in 2026. Contracts for work on Atlas 15 had been paused for about a month, raising suspicions that the project was in jeopardy due to its climate change content. Recently, the Trump administration has taken down the website, disbanded experts working on a congressionally-mandated national climate assessment and pursued other actions to stifle climate science research. When combined, the two volumes would comprise a national, interactive database of precipitation frequency estimates, including future projections, such as the statistical likelihood of a 100-year rainfall event at a particular spot each year. (A 100-year rainfall event is one that is so intense, it is only expected to occur once every 100 years on average.) The database will have information on how the likelihood and severity of 100-year rainfall events, as well as even rarer events – such as 1,000-year rainstorms, will shift depending on how much the planet warms during the next several decades. Atlas 15 is supposed to move NOAA, and those who depend on the agency, from an outdated assumption that the climate of today is roughly equivalent to that of several decades ago to a recognition that precipitation extremes are in the process of changing due largely to the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation. A pilot phase of Atlas 15, containing present day precipitation risk estimates solely for the state of Montana was released last year. It also shows how rainfall rates for 100-year events could increase with continued global warming. The Montana estimates include projections for precipitation frequency estimates at 3 degrees Celsius of global warming as well as 1.5 degrees of warming. The world has already warmed by at least 1.2 degrees.
