Tropical Cyclone Carlos dumps record amount of rain (13 inches in 24 hours) on Darwin, Australia, February 16, 2011

Cyclone Carlos dumps record amount of rain on Darwin

by Joseph Romm, Climate Progress, February 16, 2011

Last week, I reposted Dr. Jeff Masters’ piece, “Extremely dangerous Tropical Cyclone Yasi bears down on flooded Queensland, Australia.”  Now comes Carlos.  While it isn’t as “strong” as Yasi, it has dumped a stunning amount of water on this most water-soaked country:

Just two weeks after Tropical Cyclone Yasi caused massive destruction to parts of Australia, another big storm has brought further flooding to the far north of the country. 

Tropical Cyclone Carlos dumped a total of 339.6 mm [13 inches] of rain over Darwin during the 24-hour period ending midnight GMT on Wednesday. This is an all-time record for the city over a 24-hour period and eclipses anything that Yasi produced over any town in a single day. 

In fact, Darwin has now had a staggering 470 mm [18.5 inches] of rain over a 48-hour period, and there is more to come. The storm is moving very slowly and that is why we are seeing such huge rainfall totals over a similar area. In the case of Yasi, the wind was as much a damaging feature as the rain. Typical rainfall totals were nearer 160 mm of rain over a 24-hour period.

The warmest sea surface temperatures in Australian records have been fueling floods called ‘biblical’ — floods covering an area “the size of France and Germany combined.” ABC News has explained “Raging Waters In Australia and Brazil Product of Global Warming.”

In a globally warmed world, the saying will be rewritten:  When it rains, it deluges.

Related posts:

• Deadly flash flood hits Australia after six inches of rain fell in just 30 minutes:  Scientists see climate change link to Australian floods
• The year of living dangerously. Masters: “The stunning extremes we witnessed gives me concern that our climate is showing the early signs of instability”; Munich Re: “The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change”
• Hansen:  Would recent extreme “events have occurred if atmospheric carbon dioxide had remained at its pre-industrial level of 280 ppm?” The “appropriate answer” is “almost certainly not.”
• Australia to cut, delay $500 million of clean-energy funding after record warming-driven floods. Seriously!

http://climateprogress.org/2011/02/16/cyclone-carlos-dumps-record-amount-of-rain-on-darwin/