Cloudburst

Cloudburst is often defined as a sudden and violent rainstorm in a short period of time in a particular area. The rainfall is so intense that it causes flash floods as the amount of rain that falls breaches the carrying capacity of the catchment area. Cloudbursts can drastically alter the landscape and decimate life, livelihoods landscape and livestock in a short spell of violent and copious rainfall. Cloudburst can trigger mudslides, landslides, spout rivers as it changes the hydrology in a short span of time. With drastic fall in temperature, it can trigger acceleration of precipitation and alter agriculture, and the whole landscape in a matter of minutes. In the day and age of Climate Change cloudbursts are likely to increase as will drought and desertification if urgent measures are not taken to restore degraded lands - for example - to mitigate global warming to 2 Degrees Celsius. 

Hurricanes spiraling to life from the Gulf of Mexico and heading to the Hurricane Corridor in the Mid western states of the United States and Canada can wreck havoc on the lives of North Americans ... a developed society.

As catastrophes go natural / hydrometeorological calamities can change to night in a matter of minutes. Cloudburst can pound agricultural landscape leaving long term damage in agricultural landscapes.  Thus cloudburst or any hydrometeorological calamity endangers lives, livelihood, food security, landscape and livestock.

Cloudburst and other extreme weather events in the day and age of Climate Change will bethe biggest disaster or human kind to cope with.

Deforestation and consequent land degradation are the biggest anthropogenic factors of Climate Change. Climate Change is not just detrimental to mam but to wildlife and livestock too.

When moisture accumulates in large amounts in the cloud cover cloudbursts or downpours are inevitable. but increasing temperatures add to humidity adding up to cloud density. Both extremes of hydrometeorological calamities will be very harsh on human kind.

Climate Change is likely to become an incurable disease for Man and his / her environs in the years to come.   

American Midwest is vulnerable to twisters, hurricanes storms and tornadoes... They hammer human civilisation with increasing ferocity the past few years and in the years to come...unless we adapt to nature, Climate Change will our comfort zones.

Increase in moisture accumulation is turning day to night in this hinterland in Germany.

Dramatic horizon in Southern Germany's northern Bavaria. Bavaria is a largely agricultural landscape and very vulnerable to hydrometeorological extreme weather events. Given Germany's multi sectoral economic strengths, sectors vulnerable to  extreme weather events can offer resilience to the people. Therein lies lessons to be learnt for the rest of the world. But German automobile sector is also a heavy driver of Climate Change. 😓

Technology is not yet ripe to harvest electrical energy from lightening ...

Pictures: Pixabay; text Malini Shankar