Yzabelle Bostyn
A EUROPEAN Union study has confirmed that Valencia’s deadly storms were ‘mostly strengthened by human-driven climate change.’
According to the ClimaMeter research, rainfall was 15% higher than normal, with up 7mm of falling on coastal areas.
Financed by the EU and the French Scientific Research Centre (CNRS) the study analysed weather conditions of the last 40 years.
“It’s not like the DANAs that have hit Valencia before, this is a frequent phenomenon on the peninsula. But this time it has been more intense than normal due to climate change,” said Carmen Alvarez Castro, one of the study co-authors.
“There is every indication that the next ones will be too. Without alarming society, we must inform people that the climate has changed as a result of greenhouse gas emissions generated by humans, and that it is already different from what we were used to. The impacts are affecting us here and now,” said the Climatologist at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Sevilla).
She warned temperatures will continue to rise in the Mediterranean, meaning future DANAs could be more severe.
Spain is also more ‘vulnerable’ to ‘extreme weather events’ due to its geographic location, she said.
“I really hope this DANA marks a turning point, making us realise the need for prevention and adaptation. We cannot stop all the impacts of climate change but we can reduce them so that no more human life is squandered.”
The research compared weather conditions from 1979-2001 and 2002-2023.
It found that surface sea level temperatures have risen significantly since the 1980s and ‘will continue to rise.’
It comes just days after the World Weather Attribution (WWA) indicated that the rainfall during this event was 12% heavier due to climate change, making such severe weather events twice as likely.
