Heavy summer rains both a windfall and a warning

Atotal of 81 fires have burned 1.6 million acres across the Western United States this year, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. But in the midst of an unusually wet monsoon season, New Mexico has so far avoided the sorts of major wildfires that are burning in neighboring states and sending clouds of smoke across our border.

Few experts in the state predicted these heavy summer rains, and the short-term benefits of all that added moisture are clear. A yearslong drought, which was only supposed to worsen, has instead seen a mild reprieve. As rain has filled rivers and acequias and fallen on farmers’ fields, a water shortage has been eased, allowing irrigation water in some of the most arid parts of the state to remain untapped for another year.

But just as devastating wildfires have become the defining image of climate change, this year’s series of rain-related natural disasters is complicating that picture. Unusual amounts of precipitation are another signal of concerning changes in the atmosphere, and just like smoke or fire, it’s one that shouldn’t be ignored.

As greenhouse gases have continued to increase in volume, global temperatures have been on the rise. Average surface temperatures since the start of the Industrial Revolution have risen by around 1.1 degrees Celsius, according to The Earth Observatory, a research agency partnered with NASA. That can produce extreme weather patterns on both ends of the spectrum, with severe drought and torrential rain, as rising temperatures also cause the atmosphere to hold more moisture.

All around the world this summer, we’ve seen the devastation that too much precipitation can cause.

Torrential rains created floods that killed 200 people in Western Germany in early July. Another downpour this month that dropped a year’s worth of rain in 72 hours in Zhengzhou, China killed 36 people as water inundated tunnels and roadways. Landslides and floods in New Delhi have killed at least 180 people just this week.

In the midst of all the immediate benefits this monsoon season has brought to New Mexico, some people might not have noticed that a flash flood killed two men who became caught in a flood channel in Albuquerque on July 20. A flood warning for much of the state, including Taos County, was then issued later in the week. Many will remember that it was just under six years ago that a flash flood swept away and killed a 13-year-old Boy Scout at Philmont Scout Ranch in nearby Colfax County. Another flood warning for Bernalillo County was sent out this week.

Not all natural disasters will come with a warning, but climate scientists say we’ve already had enough to know extreme weather events are here to stay and will likely only become more frequent in the future.

Now is the time to take preventative measures, such as Kit Carson Electric continuing to monitor electrical lines and Taos County clamping down on illegal builds in floodplain areas.

Meanwhile, the rest of us need to take concrete actions to dial back on human activities that are sending unsustainable amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year.