Climate change is making severe storms both more common and more intense.
First the river rose in Texas. Then, the rains fell hard over North Carolina, New Mexico and Illinois.
In less than a week, there were at least four 1-in-1,000-year rainfall events across the United States — intense deluges that are thought to have roughly a 0.1% chance of happening in any given year.
“Any one of these intense rainfall events has a low chance of occurring in a given year,” said Kristina Dahl, vice president for science at the nonprofit organization Climate Central, “so to see events that are historic and record-breaking in multiple parts of the country over the course of one week is even more alarming.”
It’s the kind of statistic, several experts said, that is both eye-opening and likely to become more common because of climate change.
Another term for “record fatigue” might be “maximal misery”.
As in… I already feel miserable about climate change and additional bad news can’t make me feel significantly worse because I can’t sustain a more miserable outlook.
Another part of the same thing is that the additional news isn’t actionable. We’re all already living our best sustainable lives, a new record doesn’t change anything.