Climate & Water Vapor

     Throughout this past year there has been numerous reports of rainfall in excessive amounts in many different locations throughout the US.  It seems like reports have come in from everywhere except the Inland Northwest, --us.   In October there were reports of flooding along the Snoqualmie river in western Washington.  Now it is no surprise to hear that the Snoqualmie floods.  That's an annual spring event when the snow pack starts melting off the western slopes of the Cascade Mts, --but in October!!!(???), that's most unusual.  Last fall I read where there were 10's of thousands acres of farmland flooded along the Missouri River this past year and that currently there are thirty thousand acres of farmland still under water and expected to stay underwater until April when the 2020 flood season normally starts.  In recent years I have been watching/listening to reports of heavy rainfalls throughout the US.  They use to be associated with thunder storms on the Great Plains and the areas around the southeast and the gulf hit with the occasional hurricane.  Not any more.  Heavy rainfall events are now being reported west of the Rockies with southern California receiving heavy rainfall events as well as along the Oregon coast and now maybe the Washington coast. West of the Cascade Mts., particularly Seattle (the Emerald City) is noted for it's rainy weather, and of coarse, the Olympic Rainforest is a historical feature of Washington, so rain is not a new phenomenon; however, the amounts and in the time received may be changing.  I can't even imagine the damage to our farmland should we start receiving rains that measure in the inches per hour.  These thoughts  play a part for the passion I have to armor our fields and increase moisture infiltration.  How long will it be before we have to endure one of these high volume rain events?  There was a time that I thought our location between the Rocky and Cascade mountains would shield us from any devastating weather event, but, I'm not so sure any more.
      Atmospheric rivers (of water) seem to be more prevalent around the globe.  We mostly hear about what is going on in the US, but other places are getting similar weather events.  In one of her presentations, Dr. Christine Jones, makes reference to the excessive atmospheric moisture, and questions why more attention is not given to that greenhouse pollutant.  I did a quick google search of atmospheric pollutants and found that neither CO2 or moisture was listed as a pollutant.  There are caveats, to these and other elements, depending on the authors specific mindset.  The media gives us the impression that the debate is over, but what I see in the weeds, is that the debate is anything but over.  There is a lot more than CO2 involved with our climate and we don't understand what that is.