For those of us on the east coast experiencing a very rainy, chilly May, this new study, via EurekAlert warrants a read:

“Over the past century, the Northeast has experienced an increase in the number of storms with extreme precipitation. A Dartmouth-led study finds that the increase in extreme Northeast storms occurred as an abrupt shift in 1996, particularly in the spring and fall, rather than as a steady change over several decades. The findings were published in an early online release of the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Hydrometeorology. (A pdf of the study is available upon request). With climate change, a warmer atmosphere is able to hold more moisture, which is likely to affect the frequency, intensity and location of extreme precipitation. Understanding historical changes in extreme storms, including in the Northeast, can improve our understanding of future precipitation projections with continued climate change…”