Increasing extreme precipitation variability plays a key role in future record-shattering event probability

Abstract

Climate events that break records by large margins are a threat to society and ecosystems. Climate change is expected to increase the probability of such events, but quantifying these probabilities is challenging due to natural variability and limited data availability, especially for observations and very rare extremes. Here we estimate the probability of precipitation events that shatter records by a margin of at least one pre-industrial standard deviation. Using large ensemble climate simulations and extreme value theory, we determine empirical and analytical record shattering probabilities and find they are in high agreement. We show that, particularly in high emission scenarios, models project much higher record-shattering precipitation probabilities in a changing relative to a stationary climate by the end of the century for almost all the global land, with the strongest increases in vulnerable regions in the tropics. We demonstrate that increasing variability is an essential driver of near-term increases in record-shattering precipitation probability, and present a framework that quantifies the influence of combined trends in mean and variability on record-shattering behaviour in extreme precipitation. Probability estimates of record-shattering precipitation events in a warming world are crucial to inform risk assessment and adaptation policies.