The weather has not been kind to the Washington area over the past couple years. Snowpocalypse buried it in 2010, Tropical Storm Irene drenched it in 2011 and a derecho raked it this June.
You apparently should expect more of the same in the future.
The frequency of extreme storms in the Mid-Atlantic region has increased 55 percent since 1948, according to a study released Tuesday by the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center.
The study, called “When It Rains, It Pours,” looked at storm data nationwide from 1948 to 2011. It found the Mid-Atlantic region ranked second in the nation (behind New England) for the largest increase in the frequency of storms with heavy precipitation. These storms have also produced on average 23 percent more precipitation than the ones that occurred 64 years ago. A severe storm that only happened once a year in 1948 now will happen every 7.7 months on average.
“There’s nothing really helpful or beneficial about this phenomenon,” said the director of Environment Maryland, Tommy Landers.
He believes the increase in severe storm frequency is largely due to global warming. Regardless of the cause, the effects have been clearly evident.
Snowpocalypse, the name given to the series of extreme snow storms that occurred in February 2010, left D.C. residents with 3 feet or more of snow on the ground. Tropical Storm Irene hit the Mid-Atlantic region in August 2011, knocking out electricity to millions of homes up and down the East Coast — including 700,000 in Maryland alone. And after the straight-line windstorm, or “derecho,” moved across the Washington area on June 29, 1.7 million were without power.
