Reacción a "The heavy rainfall of the Valencia DANA was mainly due to climate change, according to a study"

This study analyses analogous meteorological situations under earlier (colder) and more recent (warmer) weather conditions. Because the weather situation of the recent DANA event was quite specific, there may not be enough similar weather situations in the historical record to allow a robust analysis of how this storm would behave under colder and warmer weather conditions. The authors acknowledge that the lack of comparable historical weather scenarios undermines the robustness of their analysis.

Nevertheless, the qualitative conclusions that storm systems in a warmer climate are associated with more intense precipitation are consistent with our scientific knowledge and are in line with previous IPCC reports. While it may be difficult to detect changes in the frequency of such weather events, it is safe to assume that when these weather events occur in a warmer climate, they may cause heavier downpours.

A warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapour, and a warmer Atlantic and Mediterranean can supply more moisture to the atmosphere through evaporation. More water in the atmosphere means heavier rainfall associated with storm systems such as the DANA that affected many areas of Spain last week.