New Research Suggests Flashier Floods in the Continental United States

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One recent study, entitled “The conterminous United States are projected to become more prone to flash floods in a high-end emissions scenario” led by the HyDROS group was just published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment. As results indicate, US floods are becoming 7.9% flashier by the end of the century assuming a high-emissions scenario. The Southwest (+10.5%) has the greatest increase in flashiness among historical flash flood hot spots, and the central US (+8.6%) is emerging as a new flash flood hot spot. Additionally, future flash flood-prone frontiers are advancing northwards.

This study has been receiving attention from different sectors. Our lab director Dr. Hong and collaborator Dr. Gourley have been interviewed by local, national, and international media. Here lists a range of newsletters that covered our study.

1. OU VPRP: New Climate Modeling Predicts Increasing Occurrences of Flash Flooding Across Most of the U.S.
2. StateImpact Oklahoma: Central U.S. to emerge as flash flood hotspot, study finds
3. Independent (UK based):Why US floods are getting ‘flashier’

As of June 6^th, 2022, this study has been mentioned in 60 news outlets, being in the top 1 percent among articles published by this journal.