The effects of climate change are being felt more and more each year. The increased heat is making everything more wet, which may seem counterintuitive at first, because heat waves are usually associated with dryness. But the more heat is in the air, the more moisture can actually be present. This is why rainfall has become so much more intense in some areas, with precipitation in the U.S. increasing at an average rate of 0.18 inches per decade since 1901.
As climate change spirals out of control, rare and severe weather patterns are becoming far more common. This means stronger hurricanes, more massive storms and bigger floods thanks to burning fossil fuels that spew heat-trapping greenhouse gases. And it will only get worse, experts warn, if we don't curb emissions. Unfortunately, as we just recorded our hottest summer ever, for the second year in a row, we're clearly going in the opposite direction, so we can expect a future with even more extreme weather.
