Record-Breaking Rainfall in Dubai: A Consequence of Human-Induced Climate Change?
Dubai, a city known for its soaring skyscrapers and opulent infrastructure, has recently been hit by torrential rainfall, causing disastrous floods. This event has left the world puzzled, as it is unusual for such heavy rainfall to occur in a desert city.
According to the UAE National Meteorology Centre, Dubai recorded a year and a half’s rain in just a few hours, with the city of Al Ain receiving 254 mm in less than 24 hours on Tuesday, the highest ever since records began. This rainfall was triggered by a high-intensity storm passing over the region, which originated in the Mediterranean Sea and moved eastwards. The storm was further fuelled by additional moisture from the Arabian Sea, giving extreme rainfall over Bahrain and Qatar.
While this event is unusual, it is not a one-off incident. Extreme weather events, especially short bursts of torrential rain, have intensified globally, leading to disastrous floods. This trend can be attributed to massive amounts of greenhouse emissions pumped into the atmosphere by human-led activities, raising global temperatures and making the world over 1.1°C warmer already.
According to experts, global warming has intensified heavy rainfall events. Though the overall number of rainy days is less, the amount of rainfall on those days has increased significantly. This is because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, and sustain strong, deep clouds for a long duration, leading to a sudden downpour.
There has been a widespread debate over whether the existing rainfall event was exacerbated by artificial cloud seeding, a scientific method of modifying the weather by dispersing large salt particles into convective clouds through an aircraft to increase the overall precipitation. However, experts suggest that it is highly unlikely, as artificial seeding is usually not recommended if a storm is well-developed.
The intensity of rainfall in Dubai has been so high that it has overwhelmed the desert city, leaving its existing drainage system struggling to cope. The science is clear – human-induced climate change is set to make such extreme weather events more intense, frequent, and disastrous in the near future. Therefore, the emphasis should now be on doing a structural audit of the lifeline infrastructure and making it more resilient to face such events.
