Hydroclimatic whiplash: the roller coaster of extreme weather in a warming planet
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22201/ceide.16076079e.2026.27.3.8Keywords:
Climate change, Water cycle, Hydroclimatic whiplash, extreme weather events, water managementAbstract
Earth’s climate has never been static: it has shifted between colder and warmer periods due to natural causes such as solar activity, volcanic eruptions, and orbital variations. But since the Industrial Revolution, human activity has intensified the greenhouse effect and pushed global temperatures more than 1 °C above preindustrial levels, altering the water cycle and driving up the frequency of torrential rains and severe droughts. Add to that a phenomenon gaining scientific attention: hydroclimatic whiplash, abrupt swings from extreme drought to flooding (or the reverse), already more common and projected to keep rising. The result is a climate moving faster than the cities, dams, and drainage systems built for a climate that no longer exists.
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