It鈥檚 official. This summer was the wettest on record for New Hampshire.
The state got more than in June, July and August 鈥� about 8 inches more than the average, and the most since recordkeeping started in 1895, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
All that water pummeled , and , leaving communities across the state with millions of dollars of damage.
It wasn鈥檛 just us. Every New England state had one of their top 10 wettest summers .
Vermont also had its on record, while Maine鈥檚 summer was their , just behind 1917. Massachusetts had its second-wettest summer on record, , and slightly drier than the summer of 1938. Connecticut鈥檚 was their , and Rhode Island鈥檚 was .
Various contributed to the intensity of the rain in New England this summer. But the record-breaking precipitation also fits with what climate experts are expecting, as humans continue to burn fossil fuels and the atmosphere gets warmer.
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New Hampshire is getting ; annual precipitation has increased 12% in the past 120 years. Extreme precipitation 鈥� as exhibited by the record number of in the Granite State this July 鈥� is expected to get worse, too. Recent shows heavy rain and snow events are also expected to intensify.
Samantha Borisoff, a climatologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northeast regional climate center at Cornell, says the state鈥檚 summer record is in line with how scientists expect climate change to affect New England.
鈥淲e are seeing overall precipitation increasing,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e're also seeing an increase in these extreme precipitation events.鈥�
As the atmosphere gets hotter, she said, it can hold more water, because warmer air can hold more moisture.
鈥淚f the atmosphere has the ability to contain more moisture, it can evaporate more from oceans and ponds and waterways and the soil,鈥� she said. 鈥淪o as that happens and your temperatures get warmer, that evaporation continues and continues and continues.鈥�
That鈥檚 also why New England could see more short-term droughts, Borisoff said. But once the moisture has evaporated, it gets stuck in the atmosphere.
鈥淲e have all of this moisture that's just sitting there waiting for something to kind of spark it to be wrung out,鈥� she said.
In New England, that spark could be a nor'easter, a tropical system, or a cold front that causes the water to fall down as extreme rain.
Borisoff said 6 of the 10 wettest summers on record in New Hampshire have happened since 2000.
Mary Stampone, New Hampshire鈥檚 state climatologist and a professor at the University of New Hampshire, said the record rainfall paints a picture of climate change in the state.
鈥淲e鈥檙e getting wetter because of these extreme events,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e getting wetter because of these intense events. And we saw that this summer. Every week there for a while, we were getting multi-inch precipitation events.鈥�
Stampone said it鈥檚 important to think about adapting to the wetter climate in the state.
鈥淲e have to be prepared to deal with the changes in climate and how it鈥檚 manifesting in more extreme weather patterns,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e already reaching capacity in terms of how much extreme weather our social systems or socioeconomic systems can handle, we can think about, well, it鈥檚 going to continue to get worse if we don鈥檛 mitigate climate change.鈥�
And, she said, it鈥檚 important to remember there鈥檚 still time to address climate change.
鈥淭his can be the worst we get,鈥� she said. 鈥淥r this can be the best we鈥檙e going to have in the future.鈥�
Federal is on its way to help with repairs in Belknap, Carroll, Cheshire, Coos, and Sullivan counties from flooding in July. And the U.S. Department of Agriculture has for farmers to apply for assistance with crop losses and soil damage. But the path ahead could still be long, particularly for communities still rebuilding from .
