Rising temperatures may increase flood risk through river ‘whiplash’, study finds

Sudden shifts from wet to dry weather, or vice versa, may foil typical drought and flooding prevention measures

Rising temperatures may trigger a dangerous increase in hydroclimatic whiplash" in rivers that would make traditional approaches to flood and drought planning insufficient, a study has found.

As temperatures rise owing to the worsening climate crisis, rivers will experience increasingly rapid transitions between heavy downpours and long dry spells - called hydroclimatic whiplash events - because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, intensifying rainfall extremes.