How does global warming create severe droughts and heat waves?
The climate is phenomenally complex, there’s thousands upon thousands of components all interacting with each other. It’s this complex series of interactions that leads to a seemingly paradoxical situation. The points you mention are quite accurate – ocean levels are rising (by 3.2mm a year) and precipitation has increased (by about 5% globally). With more precipitation you’d have though there would be less drought. What’s actually happening is pretty much the same as has always happened – the equatorial regions witness the greatest evapouration from the seas and oceans and the winds spiralling away from these regions carry the precipitation to the more northerly and southerly latitudes. If you ramp up this process by putting more energy into the system (ie global warming) you accelerate and intensify what’s happening – more evapouration and more rain but falling in the maritime, polar and temperate zones. The matter is further compounded by a warming of the climate in already arid zon
