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Climate Change Intensifies Spanish Floods, Experts Say. While scientists are cautious about attributing any single event to climate change, experts agree that rising temperatures worsened the recent floods in Spain, intensifying the downpours. Dr. Friederike Otto from Imperial College London explains that climate change enables the atmosphere to hold more moisture with every fraction of a degree of warming, resulting in heavier, more intense rainfall, BBC News reports. Researchers say the main driver of the intense rainfall was the "gota fría," or cold drop—a natural weather pattern in Spain, where cold air descends on the warm Mediterranean Sea, creating towering rain clouds. The Mediterranean has been unusually warm in recent years, which fueled the "gota fría" event and increased the amount of rain the storm clouds carried by about 7% for each degree of warming. Prof. Mark Smith from the University of Leeds notes that hotter summers dry out the soil, reducing its ability to absorb rainfall, which leads to increased runoff and flooding as more water enters rivers. Scientists are exploring whether climate change makes storms move more slowly, which would further exacerbate flooding by allowing rainfall to concentrate over specific areas for extended periods. Storm Boris, a slow-moving weather system that hit Central Europe in September, was also made stronger by Mediterranean heat, underscoring the destructive potential of warmer waters in the region. Meteorologists face difficulty in predicting the exact path of fast-moving thunderstorms, making it challenging to issue precise flood warnings, as seen in Spain’s recent events. The Spanish floods highlight how modern infrastructure is unprepared for climate-driven extreme weather, with roads and bridges designed for the climate of the past, not the intensified storms of today. Dr. Linda Speight from the University of Oxford emphasizes the critical role of timely warnings but acknowledges that predicting intense thunderstorms’ precise locations remains a complex problem.
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