Urbanization alters rainfall extremes over the contiguous United States

Abstract

Anthropogenic changes are likely to intensify rainfall extremes, posing a risk to human, environmental and urban systems. Understanding the impact of urbanization on rainfall extremes is critical for both reliable climate projections as well as sustainable urban development. This study presents the unexplored impacts of changes arising in urban areas on rainfall extremes over the Contiguous United States. The results show a 2.7-fold higher probability of exceeding a 25% change in 50 year rainfall events over urban areas than over rural areas. Spatially, the changes in rainfall extremes over the central, northeast central, southeast, and northwest central zones were more pronounced due to urbanization. Statistical analyses highlight a positive relationship between changes in rainfall extremes and urbanization within a set of concentric ring buffers around rain gauge stations. Here, we show that urbanization, even though a local feature, influences the mesoscale meteorological setting; and, is statistically associated with an intensification of rainfall extremes across the Contiguous United States.