As the banks under them disappear in the spray, the water churns into an angry brown torrent, causing roads to collapse and roadbeds to be swept downstream like driftwood is how we can describe the floods that recently hit the Yellowstone National Park.
American national park Yellowstone National Park is situated in the western part of the country, primarily in Wyoming's northwest corner and spreading into Montana and Idaho. It has more geysers and hot springs than any other place on earth and is perched atop a dormant volcano. This genuinely exceptional national park is full of wonders, from natural wonders like the Yellowstone Grand Canyon to fauna like the nation's largest herd of buffalo, grizzly bears, and wolves.
An image from a recently released video shows the devastation caused by the record flood in Yellowstone National Park on June 13th, 2022. The raging stream swept through the park. Sloping riverbanks develop precipitous cliffs as the water's silt is taken away, changing what were once calm alpine rivers into screaming cascades. The footage, which the National Park Service posted online on July 18th, 2022, also demonstrates post-flood devastation. The Gardner River curves into the canyon walls that originally supported the Canyon and North Entrance Road, which once followed it closely. As a result, the road now abruptly ends in a ragged zigzag. The U.S. Geological Survey classified the damage as the outcome of a "1 in 500-year occurrence”.
Even though no single weather occurrence can be definitively linked to climate change, scientists said the flooding in Yellowstone was consistent with changes previously seen around the park as temperatures rise. According to Cathy Whitlock, a climate scientist at Montana State University, these changes include less snowfall in the middle of winter and greater spring precipitation, which creates the conditions for flash floods when rain falls on snow. Even while the area experiences a persistent drought that leaves much of the rest of the year dry, she predicted that warming trends would lead to an increase in the frequency of spring floods.
According to Jason Furtado, a professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, "we are actually re-writing our weather history book."
The abrupt change from a drought to a flood, which he described as "weather whiplash," was difficult for even meteorologists to understand.
Since rivers have flooded for millennia, it is difficult to link the damage in Yellowstone to a rapidly warming climate. However, scientists are warning that in the coming years, damage related to climate change will affect nearly all 423 national parks, which are especially vulnerable to rising temperatures.
The list of dangers seemed like a prophecy from the Bible: fire and flood, ice sheets melting, sea levels rising, and heat waves.
REFERENCES-
[1] New York Times
[2] USA News
[3] Fox News
[4] National Geographic
[5] Earthobservatory.nasa.gov
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