Climate study warns of more heavy summer storms in the Alps

Climate study warns of an increase in heavy summer storms in the Alps Keystone-SDA

Extreme summer rainfall will become more frequent and more intense in the Alps in future. If the climate warms by two degrees, a Swiss-Italian research team expects a doubling of short, heavy summer rainfall in the Alps.

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Thunderstorms with such heavy rainfall, which today occur on average only once every 50 years, will occur every 25 years, as a study published on Thursday in the journal npj Climate and Atmospheric Science shows. Researchers from the University of Lausanne (Unil) and the University of Padua (Italy) analysed data from almost 300 mountain weather stations in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy and France.

Even an average temperature rise of one degree could be problematic, the researchers emphasised in a press release from Unil.

The reason for the increase is that warm air can store more moisture and thus increase thunderstorm activity. As the Alpine region is warming faster than the global average, it is particularly affected.

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Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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