Waves crash on the coast of Sansha town as Typhoon Gaemi approaches, in Ningde, Fujian province, China July 25, 2024.SINGAPORE — Climate change is driving changes in rainfall patterns across the world, scientists said in a paper published on Friday , which could also be intensifying typhoons and other tropical storms.
Warming temperatures have enhanced the ability of the atmosphere to hold moisture, which is causing wider fluctuations in rainfall, the researchers said in a paper published by the Science journal. Typhoon Gaemi, which first made landfall in Taiwan on Wednesday, was the strongest to hit the island in eight years.
In its "blue paper" on climate change published this month, China said the number of typhoons in the Northwest Pacific and South China Sea had declined significantly since the 1990s, but they were getting stronger.