When It Rains, It Pours: The Dubai Floods
As many avid news watchers around the world may already know, Dubai has been in the headlines this week as it experienced a year’s worth of rain over the course of a single day. Almost 4 inches (100mm) of rain came pelting down on the city over 12 hours between Monday the 15th and Tuesday the 16th of April, leaving the roads and airport completely underwater and homes damaged beyond repair in some cases. Naturally, the results of torrential rain on a scale like this have been completely devastating for the usually dry city. So why was the city hit with such an unprecedented storm so out of the blue? Let’s find out.
Why The Downpour?
Users on social media have spoken out about their assumptions, including that overly aggressive cloud seeding may have been the cause of this extreme weather that left many lucky to escape with their lives. Cloud seeding is the practice of manipulating clouds to help produce more rain. While the UAE has been known to use this technique over the last few years to offset rain shortages, and there were reports of cloud seeding taking place directly before the storm hit, experts have been quoted as saying that to blame cloud seeding alone would be a misleading approach to understanding the disaster. Dr Friederike Otto, senior climate science lecturer, stated that even if cloud seeding planes have been doing their work in the area, we need to look at climate change as bearing a lot of the responsibility.
Climate change in the UAE means that there’s more water in the atmosphere than in previous years, which may make cloud seeding more effective than anticipated. The “cut off” low-pressure system that drew warm and moist air in and blocked other weather systems from moving in over the city has been cited by experts as the main cause of the flooding.
The usually incredibly dry, rain-free weather of the UAE meant that residents were simply not prepared for the incredible downpour that they were faced with earlier this week. While it’s clear that this weather is incredibly unusual for the UAE, experts say that at this time, it is impossible to define exactly how much effect climate change had on this severe weather event. It will be months before enough data about human impact and changing weather patterns played in the torrential downfall, but that data is essential and will be analyzed. That said, record rainfall in some parts of the world, like the UAE, and record droughts in others are consistent with our rapidly changing climate. Simply put, the warmer air that the planet now has can hold as much as 7% more water for each degree Celsius of increased temperature. That means the chances of a severe rain event like this one are far higher.
The Role of Climate Change
It’s clear that humans and our habits are impacting the climate- mostly for the worse. Recent studies on climate change claim that rainfall across usually dry and arid areas like the UAE may increase by as much as 30% by the time we reach the year 2100. Though 30% may not seem like a lot now, it’s an increase that will completely change the UAE and destroy all land ecosystems that currently live there. Dr Otto said that with the current rate of climate change, more lives will be lost. Luck has always been a factor in weather just like in, for example, a casino like lets lucky, however if humanity continues to burn fossil fuels at the current rate, things will get worse and not better.
Moving Forward
UAE officials have been working on plans to help the city prepare to experience more extreme weather events, should they occur. But what is the ultimate solution to avoiding disasters like this one? For the countries of the world, the UAE included to gain a greater understanding of their role in climate change, accept responsibility to make the necessary changes and put those changes into as immediate an effect as possible. While the citizens of Dubai and tourists trapped at the airport try to do the best they can in the situation, the eyes of the world follow the story from afar.