NOAA data shows past month was wettest April in over a decade in Greater Cincinnati region
The Greater Cincinnati region experienced an unusually wet April this year.
According to data collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 7.47 inches of rain fell during the month in the region, which was the most recorded of any April since 2011.
In 2011, the Cincinnati region recorded 13.52 inches of rain. The wettest since then was April 2014, which saw 6.66 inches of rain.
The region also saw its largest flood of the Ohio River since 1997 as a result of the extensive rainfall experienced throughout the region, with data indicating that river levels even managed to narrowly surpass those recorded by NOAA in 2018's flood.
This extensive rainfall and flooding comes after the Cincinnati region already saw an especially brutal winter this year, which saw some of the heaviest snowfall in years.
Scientists say these occurrences of extreme weather patterns are likely a direct impact of human-caused climate change. This includes scientists , who analyzed the past month of storms from across the central United States in detail.
The WWA analysis found that climate change increased rainfall intensity in the storms seen across the U.S. in April by 9% and made them 40% more likely to occur compared to the probability of such events occurring before the Industrial Revolution. This time period, according to WWA, is when many additional greenhouse gases started to be introduced into the global atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels by humans.
published in 2023, the Midwest has long been expected to undergo more weather extremes when it comes to precipitation rates as the planet continues to warm.
The National Climate Assessment is a report commissioned by the U.S. government every few years to study the impacts of climate change. It is worked on by scientists from 15 different government agencies that include the EPA, NASA, and USDA, among others.
"The Ohio River, upper Mississippi River, and lower Missouri River are susceptible to floods and droughts based on projected changes in precipitation, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture," reads part of the most recent National Climate Assessment. "Precipitation has increased in recent decades with more extreme variability and rapid shifts between wet and dry periods. Projections across a range of scenarios indicate future increases in annual precipitation of 0.3% to 1.5% per decade in the eastern Midwest and 0.2% to 0.5% in the western Midwest. Winter and spring precipitation is expected to increase, while summer and autumn precipitation is projected to be more variable."
The authors of the National Climate Assessment point to human activities as "unequivocal" in driving the changes. According to the authors, this is primarily due to atmospheric greenhouse gases that continue to be released by the burning of fossil fuels in human activities such as transportation and energy generation.
Worldwide, NOAA says that 2024 was the hottest year ever recorded in its history of monitoring the weather. Before that, the previous record was set in 2023.