Maine’s biggest storms are growing more frequent and fierce, according to a study released late last month. It is the latest sign that the effects of climate change long predicted by scientists are now coming to bear, and one that should not be ignored by Maine communities, particularly those along the water.

The report, issued by Environment Maine and based on data from 3,700 weather stations, looks at trends in the frequency of and total amount of precipitation in extreme storms from 1948-2011, analyzing the data using methodology from the National Climatic Data Center.

The results from Maine were particularly alarming. Extreme rainstorms and snowstorms have increased 74 percent in Maine in the time period, and the amount of precipitation released by the largest annual storms has increased by 23 percent. In other words, the big storms are getting bigger, and we’re getting them more often, likely as a result of warming that pulls evaporation into the atmosphere.

The storms hurt farmers, whose crops prefer softer, more predictable rainfall, and whose land can be damaged by heavy precipitation. The same kind of damage impacts shorelines, both on the coast and around lakes, which are already harmed by erosion.

As much of the rest of the country is finding out, the increase in precipitation does not preclude drought. Because the warmer temperatures pull water from the ground, soil is harmed both coming and going by climate change.

This is not the only recent study linking climate change with extreme weather. A paper released Monday by a group of scientists led by James E. Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies, links fossil fuel use with the warming atmosphere, and to the recent heat waves in Europe and Russia and droughts in Oklahoma and Texas. While this year’s particularly hot summer was not included in the report, the group concludes there is likely a link there, as well. In a debate often hijacked by politics, the data are piling up.

“This is not a climate model or a prediction, but actual observations of weather events and temperatures that have happened,” wrote Hansen, in an op-ed in The Washington Post. “Our analysis shows that it is no longer enough to say that global warming will increase the likelihood of extreme weather and to repeat the caveat that no individual weather event can be directly linked to climate change. To the contrary, our analysis shows that, for the extreme hot weather of the recent past, there is virtually no explanation other than climate change.”

Unfortunately, climate-change denial, particularly of the human-caused variety, is a strong force in politics, and no manner of evidence seems to change minds or spur action. It doesn’t help that the severe economic downturn hasn’t left much appetite for the changes in transportation and infrastructure needed to limit fossil fuels, or that some high-profile forays into alternative energy have turned out costly or ineffective.

But no matter its attribution, it is clear that the atmosphere is warming and weather is becoming more severe, and we can expect that trend to continue. Communities have to realize that the changing climate is no longer a forecast or a prediction. It is happening now, and impacting people across the world. Larger steps, on a national and international level, are necessary, but locally, communities can work to lessen the costs that are sure to be created in the future by extreme weather.

Scarborough has already begun that process. The town, along with Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach, are working together as the Saco Bay Sea Level Adaptation Working Group to see how changes in water level and coastal storms will impact the area.

Out of that group’s work has come a proposal to amend the town’s floodplain ordinance to increase the distance between the floorboards of a home and the high-water mark of a “100-year” flood from 1 foot to 3 feet to account for rising sea levels.

More of these discussions have to take place locally, and be taken seriously by residents and officials alike. In many ways, the coming storm is already here.

Ben Bragdon is the managing editor of Current Publishing. He can be reached at bbragdon@keepmecurrent.com or followed on Twitter.

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