The frequency of intense precipitation will continue to increase across the Midwest under climate change.

Submitted by sdhandler on

The Midwest has already experienced a large increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation events. For example, storms in the 99th-percentile category increased by 42% from 1958 to 2016 across the region. Intense rainfall is expected to continue to occur more frequently, across different storm classes. For example, rain events that historically had an expected return of 5 years are expected to occur every 2-3 years by the end of the century. Large storms are also expected to deliver more rainfall as well. In the Midwest, 20-year return storms are projected to deliver 11 to 20% more rainfall by the end of the century.