The Carolinas early this week braced for a storm that forecasters warned could bring heavy rain — as much as 6 to 8 inches in some spots. But one narrow band got a “firehose” that dumped as much as 20 inches in a so-called 1,000-year flood that shocked many with its intensity.
The storm that left homes flooded, cars submerged and schools closed Tuesday in parts of North Carolina wasn’t really a surprise to scientists who have long said that such rainfalls are one marker of climate change.
“Data shows one of the strongest relationships between climate change and precipitation is that as the atmosphere warms, the capacity to hold water increases. Therefore