You probably noticed a lot of weird weather in 2021.

From record-breaking deluges and tropical storms to drought-stricken landscapes that erupted in wildfire, the nation seemed to lurch from one weather-related disaster to the next.

You’re forgiven if you dismiss these events as unrelated, albeit unfortunate, phenomena. But they actually share a common bond – they’re all part of a new climate reality where supersized rainfalls and lengthening droughts have become the norm.

Blame global warming.

Rising temperatures don’t just make the planet hotter. They’ve also knocked longstanding precipitation patterns off balance by altering how much water cycles between earth and sky.

Yes, there have always been erratic weather patterns, but now the heaviest downpours and droughts are growing more extreme, USA TODAY revealed in its recent yearlong project, Downpour. 

That trend started almost imperceptibly in the late 20th century, as the accumulation of earth-warming greenhouse gases reached critical levels in the atmosphere.

Now, decades later, those changes are nearly impossible to ignore.

East of the Rockies, more rain is falling, and it’s coming in more intense bursts. In the West, people are waiting longer to see any rain at all.

“They’re all interconnected to the impact that climate change is having on these persistent weather extremes,” said Michael Mann, a climatologist at Penn State University and author of the book "The New Climate War."

“It’s not a contradiction to have huge floods, unprecedented floods and unprecedented heat waves and droughts at the same time.”

The majority of Americans have experienced first-hand the impacts of these shifting precipitation patterns.

Take this past summer alone. In just over one week in June:

- A deluge dropped 7 inches of rain in Detroit, swamping highways and stranding motorists.

- At least 136 daily rainfall records were set during storms across five states along the Mississippi River.

- Tropical Storm Claudette soaked a swath of the South, flooding homes in Louisiana and in Alabama, where it dropped up to 8 inches of rain and claimed 14 lives.

- Meanwhile, the drought-stricken West grappled with soaring temperatures that shattered century-old records, prompted heat warnings and ultimately killed more than 200 people.

A dozen states, including Iowa, Ohio and Rhode Island, saw five of their 10 wettest years in history over the past two decades.

Michigan experienced six since 2008 alone.

At the opposite extreme, eight states – including five in the West – had at least three record-dry years in the same time period. That’s double what would be expected based on historical patterns.

Continue reading the article from USA Today here.