Water Storage Increasing Rain
Photo credit: National Weather Service WSR-88D Image from: MPX 08/12/2019 21:45 UTC (4:45 PM CDT)
Over the last century we have been recording rainfall in Minnesota, which is available through the MN State Department of Natural Resources Climatology Office. There is a clear trend of increasing rain per decade. Both large rainfalls as well as smaller events (1 - 3” rainfall events) have all been on the rise. The nation as a whole has also been setting wetness records every year since 2014, with each subsequent year being called the “wettest on record”. With intensifying rain there is an increase in volume to the rivers, consequently greater river volume causes problems to humans including flooding and land erosion.
Photo credit: Dr. Kenneth Blumenfeld – Minnesota’s Climatic Trends: Water Storage Forum presentation on April 4th, 2019.
The major impact of this increasing volume within our local rivers is flooding which can cause infrastructure damage and erosion, causing property loss.