El Niño could unleash several '10-year flood events' this winter in cities such as Seattle and San Diego
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/flooding/el-nino-could-unleash-several-10-year-flood-events-this-winter-in-cities-such-as-seattle-and-san-diego
73 points · 9 comments · view on lemmy.world
9 Comments
foggy@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 2y
We're going to have to stop calling these floods out for how infrequent they "used* to be.
That's like saying something is on sale for 10% off all the time. It's not on sale, it's just the price.
Vermont has had 2 "100 year flood" events in the last 15 years.
WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y
Grade them like earthquakes or hurricanes, based on the amount of energy &/or water released.
antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 2y
That’s the way it’s going but it will take some time before it’s mainstream.
https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/atmospheric-river-rating-system-chart
https://cw3e.ucsd.edu/arscale/
MrNesser@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
I vote they be called hyperactive water events
Ejh3k@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2y
I could get behind excessive water events.
antlion@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 2y
A 100 year flood just means a 1% chance, or, in the 99th percentile of intensity.
Say we had a coin toss, that’s the 2-year storm. You could easily get 2 or three of those in a row.
But you’re correct that the climate is changing, and in many cases the statistics are not applicable to the current climate.
xts@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2y
lol didn’t parts of California flood last year/earlier this year? Why even bother calling them “10-year floods” when we can expect them annually or even more frequently
pan_troglodytes@programming.dev · 0 pts · 2y
the water table down there could use a few more "10 year" floods.
Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2y
So Vancouver surely is even more likely to get hit hard if Seattle is?