Increasing occurrences of heavy rainfall events which send he volumes of water though my property destabilizing the slope have become more frequent. We are directing experiencing the results of climate change, and we, and my immediate neighbors, are threatened by the projected trend in these types of rainfall events unless the storm water is diverted elsewhere.
Here are the facts about our region and projected changes in rainfall events due to climate change:
How is Pacific Northwest Climate Projected to Change? – Climate Impacts Group, College of the Environment, University of Washington
Projected changes in annual precipitation are small, although heavy rainfall events are projected to become more severe.
Changes in annual and seasonal precipitation will continue to be primarily driven by year-to-year variations rather than long-term trends, but heavy rainfall events are projected to become more severe.
Increasing precipitation extremes. Heavy rainfall events are projected to become more severe by mid-century. Specifically, the number of days with more than 1 inch of rain is projected to increase by +13% (±7%) for the 2050s (relative to 1971-2000) for a high greenhouse gas scenario.[H][3]
Climate Change in the Pacific Northwest – US Fish and Wildlife Service
Temperature records indicate that Pacific Northwest temperatures increased 1.5°F since 1920. Regionally downscaled climate models project increases in annual temperature of, on average, 2.0°F by the 2020s, 3.2 °F by the 2040s, and 5.3°F by the 2080s (compared to the 1970-1999 period), averaged across all climate models. Projected changes in annual precipitation, averaged over all models, are small (+1 to +2%), but some models project wetter autumns and winters and drier summers. Increases in extreme high precipitation (falling as rain) in the western Cascades and reductions in snowpack are key projections from high-resolution regional climate models. (Littell et-al., 2009)