Rainstorms are getting more intense across the Triangle and North Carolina
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Rainstorms have gotten more intense in the Triangle over the past five decades, a new climate analysis has found.
Why it matters: More intense precipitation events can cause flash-flooding, landslides, dangerous driving conditions and other potentially deadly hazards.
Driving the news: Hourly rainfall intensity in Raleigh increased between 1970 and 2024 by nearly 22%, per a new report from Climate Central, a research and communications group.
- That was higher than the average increase of 15% seen across other cities.
How it works: The researchers divided each location's total annual rainfall by its total hours of annual rainfall, using NOAA weather station data.
- That approach quantifies how much rain fell for each hour it was raining in a given year — in other words, rainfall intensity.
Between the lines: Human-driven climate change is resulting in warmer air, which holds more moisture and thus can drive more intense precipitation.
Zoom in: North Carolina had several notable intense rainfall events last year that highlight the trend.
- Hurricane Helene's devastation mostly centered on Western North Carolina — but the storm's intense downpours also broke rainfall records in the Triangle, CBS17 reported.
- And last year, Carolina Beach experienced a 1-in-1,000-year rain event, when a surprise storm dropped 20 inches of rain on the beach town in a 12-hour period, leading to widespread flooding.