A new study reveals evidence how the effects of climate change are not just evident today but there are apparently clear signs of global warming decades ago, where extreme rainfall events are expected in the near future.
In this new study, researchers are giving new insight regarding how climate change effects are felt in all different regions of the world where these effects are most likely to become stronger in the years ahead. By closer examination of extreme and average world temperatures, the researchers discovered that the first global warming effects that were felt by tropical regions where Africa along with Southeast Asia and Australia have already been exposed to climate change signs as early as the 1940s according to lead study author Andrew King of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science.
Researchers explain why tropical regions were the first to experience changes in global temperatures as they have traditionally narrower ranges when it comes to temperatures. This means that if there is even a slight shift in temperature, scientists can easily observe changes and record them.
Climate temperature changes were also recorded much later in regions that are closer to the poles but between 1980 and 2000, temperature records in almost all regions of the world were already manifesting global warming effects. However, one region that is still an exception to the effects is the United States especially East coast and western states where warming signs are yet to be observed.
Current climate models project that these states are expected to feel the effects of warmer temperatures within the next decade.
Most climate change effects involve warmer temperatures but heavier rainfall events will also soon occur due to global warming. Climate models also predict a general increase in the amount of rainfall which could result to extreme weather changes around the world but figures are still within expected variations where an increase of precipitation is still not considered by scientists as a sign of global warming.
Researchers also predict that the first signs of heavy rainfall due to signs of global warming will show up around northern Europe, Russia and Canada during winter season in the next 30 years, coinciding with wetter winters. This new study is published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.